In Mexico
by onyxwaterfall
Summary: Dominic, Letty and Leon escape as fugitives into Mexico. But an unexpected surprise leaves Letty and Leon stuck, and Dominic gone.
1. Part 1

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended  
**Pairing: **Letty/Leon

* * *

Part 1

Her tired eyes came open to the harsh yellow of the sun's rays reflecting off the chrome wing mirror. They squeezed shut almost immediately after she'd opened them, and she focussed on something different. She'd slowly come to realise the stabbing pains in her chest when she saw the red blotches on her light shirt, and the dried blood on her fingers.

It was only then that the reality of her nightmare kicked in. Leon was in the front passenger's seat of the black Civic, the driver's seat remained empty. Her eyes landed on Leon's hands. One was clutching the dashboard, the other nervously flipping a corona cap up and down. She saw the expression upon his face; stern, unmoving, unchanging. But his jaw, clenching, unclenching, clenching, unclenching. He looked briefly into the distance and paused in tossing the cap, but after that moment his eyes were back on the cap, watching it glint, watching it land, flip – whatever.

Letty only realised Dom had gotten into the car when the engine shook the car, and strong and innocuous as it was continued to rumble throughout the entire vehicle. She shuffled an inch in her seat and Leon looked back at her. She was awake.

She felt the car beginning to move away and accelerating to what she estimated was around seventy miles an hour. They'd been driving a long time, and even though the heat didn't let up and back down, the sun did, and as it retreated in the sky, the three bodies each nervously wondered in despair.

What would happen to them?

* * *

The engine calmed down as Dom pulled the car to a halt and turned it off. And for a moment it was as if he was contemplating their next move. They'd come to a strip of shops on a beach and he rubbed his hand back over his head and forward a couple of times, Leon watched him, wondering if he was going to make a move.

'What now?' he said, his voice deep in his throat, and dry.

Dom cocked his head to the side and got out of the car, and once closed it, leant on the low hood with his hand. 'This is the end of the line for you and Letty,' he said, finding it difficult to get the words out.

Leon shook his head. 'What are you talkin' about?'

'Listen, bro, just do me favour; don't ask any questions, take Letty, get her to a hospital, Jose owes me a favour and he lives just in there.' He nodded towards the building, and Leon took a moment to examine it himself.

When he looked back to Dom he felt a certain degree of anger growing in him. He went to speak but Dom began.

'Look, Leon, if you start asking questions, I'm gonna have to stay, that's gonna waste time-'

'Why have I been spending all of this time telling myself that we're all in this together, when you're about to dump us at the "end of the line" and take off by yourself to do god knows what- wh-where _are _you goin', man?' He came round to Dom's side of the car, and stood firmly before him, becoming more and more frustrated at Dom's sudden decision to leave them behind.

'It'll just be for a couple of days, I gotta go check stuff out in Mexico see if it's safe for us. I'll be back, I promise, just…you guys need to lay low while I do that.'

Leon watched Dom, licking over his lips and shifting his weight on to his other foot as he listened to his words. He glanced in the car at Letty, who had gone back to sleep. There was a long silence as Leon contemplated this in his mind. He finally looked at Dom. 'And it's just for a couple of days?'

He nodded solemnly, agreeing with his comment. 'C'mon, let's get Letty.'

* * *

Leon closed the door after Jose walked away and turned to see Letty sitting upon the bed, in pain and silently crying. She raised a hand to her forehead and pressed it there, and as if it was her breaking point, began to shed tears, and frequent whimpers escaped her lips as Leon absorbed this image before him.

He approached her, calmly and gently, not wanting to invade her space but feeling he needed to explain the situation to her one more time. He knelt down before her, reaching out to her thighs and placing his hands upon them before he looked up into her sore eyes and spoke. 'He said it was just for a couple of days, baby gurl, he's gonna come back.'

She sniffled and looked down at him, his emerald eyes as glazed over as her own felt. It'd been one day and already she'd lost all but one of her family. She knew better than Leon, knew what those words meant. Especially when he'd take off for a few days without a call. He'd always return, but it was the anticipation, the expectation, the WAITING more than anything that pushed her over the edge.

She tore her gaze from his, and rose from the bed, causing him to rise also. She walked towards the window, looking out ahead at the deserted beach and the lack of anything anywhere. 'He's not coming back,' she told him, her own voice raspy and dry from the dehydration she'd suffered the last day.

He approached her once again, not quite sure what she'd said, but going on what he thought she had. 'Dom's not just gonna abandon us, Let. He's checkin' out a safe place for us, he'll be back in a couple of days.'

'No where in freakin' Mexico is safe. Just the same as LA, drugs, guns, whatever. Away from the cops, maybe, but it doesn't matter where we are, we've always been good at hiding from them.'

Leon took a moment to think about this. It all failed to make sense in his mind why he would just dump them and take off. But it didn't make sense why he would wanna work alone in this. They were in it together. He couldn't figure out if he was dumping them for their own safety, or because they couldn't cover their tracks and it would get him discovered.

He sat down upon the bed and rubbed over his mouth with his hand. 'I have no fucking clue where we are.'

'San Antonio del Mar,' she told him quickly, as if she knew the place inside out. She felt Leon turn to look at her and she glanced over her shoulder at him. 'I've…stayed here a couple of times.'

He nodded slowly, his gaze falling to the floor. It rose again when she joined him on the bed. 'What are we supposed to do?' he asked her, seeming as if now he was going to break down.

She licked over her lips slightly, and reached down into her trouser pocket, and as she grabbed hold of the object, looked Leon in the eye. She pulled out a roll of money, had to be at least four thousand. She twirled it between her fingers.

His eyes looked at the money, confused, then back at her, even more so.

She tilted her head a little and looked at it. 'The race I won. It's gotta be able to keep us for a while, at least until we figure out what we can do.'

Leon's fingers took hold of the money, surprised as he was, annoyed that they'd have to live off of it. 'Letty, there's gotta be at least…' he shook his head trying to think of the amount of money.

'It's actually four large.' She reached down into her back pocket and retrieved even more money. 'Plus the two I "borrowed" from Dom. He doesn't know.'

He looked into her eyes, trying to keep a straight face.

'Every time we pull one of those heists I take a little insurance. Call it my wages, even,' she told him as she unfolded the money. Yet another couple of thousands sat between them and Leon wondered why he didn't think to keep some money on him, himself.

He contemplated the cash before them for a moment, then cleared his throat. 'Have you…got any more pockets I should know about?' he said, breaking into a little smile.

She shrugged and reached down into her boot. Again, she pulled out a roll of money and threw it onto the bed space between them. 'Lucky thousand. First race I won, I always keep it on me.' She waved her hand in front of it as she explained, thinking Leon would wonder why the hell she carried so much money on her. 'So that's seven.'

'Letty…'

She looked up into his eyes, a little startled at his tone. She shrugged and dismissed it. 'It's not the first time I've had to leave at a moment's notice. And last time I wasn't so lucky. Had a couple of notes and like one quarter. Was staying down here for three months. At least this'll keep us fed.'

He wanted to say something but struggled to find the words. He looked into her eyes and watched her explaining to him, then a silence filled the air as he gazed down upon the money once again.

He scoffed and put down the four thousand on the bed, and lay back, pulling a foot up to rest on the comforter. He sighed loudly and rested his head in his upturned hands. He was dumbfounded.

She rose from the bed and collected the money together, putting it back where it had come from.

She felt a shooting pain stab through her chest as she bent over to shove the money back in her shoe, and her hand to her chest as she cried out. 'Shit,' she cursed beneath her breath as she straightened out. The pain was really bad, and she'd forgotten that it was hurting her there before.

Leon sat immediately, alerted by her whimper and rose from the bed, hurrying to her side. 'Whoa, take it easy,' he said as she leant back against the wall. 'Is it your chest?' he asked, knowing it had been hurting her before from the way she'd been holding it in the car.

She nodded her head, trying to get through the waves of pain as she clamped her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. She slid to the floor and sighed out a heavy breath, a little happier the pain had subsided.

'We should get you to a doctor,' he decided quickly as he knelt down beside her.

She shook her head almost immediately and raised a hand to him as he made a move to check it out. 'Don't worry about it man, I'm gonna be fine.'

'Nah, it's too risky, you could'a broken somethin', we gotta find you a doctor.'

'No! Leon, I'm not gonna go to a fuckin' hospital, I told you I'll be fine; would you fuckin' well drop it?' she snapped, almost yelling at him.

He backed down reluctantly and sighed. 'There's shops all along this stretch there's bound to be a place I can pick up some painkillers or something,' he mumbled incoherently. He got up from the floor and headed straight out of the room, without another word's exchange.

She watched him leave quickly, silently, as if sorry to have said anything and upset by her brutal harshness. She let her head roll back and rest upon the wall, and raised a hand to her forehead, and let it drop again. 'I'm a fuckin' asshole.'

* * *

Her gorgeous black curls splayed over the comforter, as did the rest of her tired body, a mesh of pains and numbs, a tired compilation, an overheated girl. Even as the sun disappeared behind the sapphire ocean, the heat never failed to scorch.

She'd found herself removing materials from her body in a half slumber, all the while unaware that she was alone. She'd swallowed a couple of pills prior to her state of sleep, and hadn't noticed Leon leave for a second time.

He wandered out onto the beach, the granules of sand absorbing each footstep he placed more than it needed to. It was warm, and he was warmed by it. And as he gazed up ahead he wondered what was in store for him. Of all the things, he'd never imagined Dom would disappear. Strange as it sounded, common as it was for him to do so, he still never thought he'd do it. Not now.

The heat hit him at a thousand stabs per second, every inch of him perspiring to defend it. Even as his body became covered in a glistening sheen of sweat he found himself boiling at a thousand degrees.

His feet sank into the sand each step he took, and his hair caught the gentle breeze that felt like a fan blowing warm air.

He couldn't stop questioning the sequence of events of this day. Dom disappearing into a building for a long period of time, and returning, only to tell them nothing. His silence, the entire drive down to Mexico. Then leaving them, at a moment's notice, as if they'd straight away understand.

_No, _Leon thought to himself. It didn't add up. What was he doing in that building? Who was he talking to? Why did he just drop them off and promise his return a couple of days in the future?

His pace slowed to an eventual halt as the questions flooded him continuously. He couldn't stop thinking about it. And it still didn't make sense.

The rich smell of Mexican food wafted at him as he pulled back the café door. Jose was a friend of Dominic's who'd been living out in San Antonio del Mar for as long as he could remember. Leon had never heard of him before. Letty had stayed with him once or twice before. Either way, the young man had been here for what seemed like forever.

Leon glanced at him from across the café floor, flipping buffalo wings and dancing to the mellow salsa music. He was a good looking man, toffee coloured, bronzing from the sun's rays, slim, toned as his arms displayed. He wore a presentable red and white uniform and a small, shiny, silver hoop in his right ear, that moved every time he swayed his head to the upbeat music.

On first glance he seemed like someone everyone could get along with, but Leon knew better. It was best not to get involved, not to ask questions. Dom told him he could trust the guy, but again, Leon knew better. He headed for the back, leading up to the stairs, but was stopped by Jose calling out his name, and continuing to sing along to his Spanish rhythms.

He stopped at the door, peeking his head back through. 'Yep?' he said alerted, though displayed a look of nonchalance.

'Come and have a drink, have some food, cheer up a little!' he said cheerfully, seeming to want the company. Although the restaurant was practically empty except for an old balding guy in the corner reading a paper, and Leon inwardly wanted to interact with this guy a little more. He resisted the offer, and shook his head a little.

'It's been a long day, man, I'm just gonna try and catch some rest,' he told him.

Jose examined him for a second, seeming to lose the happiness from his cheeks for a moment, but he waved his hand and raised it to him. 'No problem, but Leon…' he told him, stopping him from leaving again. '…I know…what your goin' through right now is, tough. You need anything, give me a shout, eh?'

Leon nodded his head in response, pressing his lips together into a smile before he headed upstairs to the room he'd given Letty and himself to share.

Entering and closing the door behind him was a chore to his tired arm and he exhaled a relieved breath as he realised he could now get some rest. It hadn't occurred to him that they'd been travelling in a car for nearly a whole day and that he hadn't closed his eyes once.

Now was his chance.

He pulled the basketball shirt up over his head and threw it to the floor as he approached the bed. Again, it hadn't occurred to him he hadn't rested, and so when his body hit the comforter, the rush of ache washed over him and he inhaled against the soft mesh of the pillow.

It took him a moment to realise Letty had mumbled something to him, and he turned his head slow, planning on asking her to repeat what she'd said. But when his body turned to face her, he became aware of her slumbering form. She didn't look great. In fact, she looked terrible. Blood-stained clothes, her face was bruised and a little swelled. But somehow she was sleeping through the pain.

'Where've you been?' she mumbled, Leon watching as her eyes stayed shut and her lips moved.

He sighed slow and rolled onto his back. 'Walkin.'

He listened to her heavy breathing as she woke and shuffled on the comforter. Her arm moved slow over to his, and though it took him some time to realise, the comfort from her hand slipping into his softened his facial features.

'I'm sorry,' she uttered, her voice low and raspy.

He took a moment to absorb her works, the conversation they'd had coming back to him as her words from moments ago circled in his mind.

'You're stressed; it's okay.'

'I always just push you away, you know. And I realised the more I keep doin' it, the less good it's gonna do me in the long run. I gotta just, suck it up, like a tough guy.' She took a long breath. 'Like you.'

His eyes remained on the ceiling, again, her words drifting through him and in some was consoling him as he listened to each and every one. _Like him; a tough guy. _

He himself took a deep breath, in and out. And though he intended to say something to her, his words were lost in his teeming brain. There was way too much on his mind for him to say anything. He couldn't stop thinking about Dom. The argument he'd had with Letty had past, and he wanted to keep it _in _the past. He sighed and turned his gaze to focus upon her saddened brown eyes, and the pain bursting from them.

Of course she was hurt, he thought to himself. 'Sleep do you some good, huh?' he mumbled, trying to change the subject.

She watched his emerald gaze for a good long moment before replying with a gentle and timid nod against the pillow.

It became apparent to him that she had intentions on her mind as she moved her hand further into his, so that now he was feeling her arm, and her hand drifted slowly over the contours of his stomach. She moved in gently, all the while keeping her eyes locked on his, and came to rest her chin upon his shoulder, their eyes still deep within each other's gaze. He felt her inhale against his skin smoothly, taking in his natural scent of whatever that may have been to her. Sweat, the ocean, oil, his cologne. Then her fingers, and the palm of her hand resting upon his stomach, as if they would stay there for the rest of the night, gently, warmly. And it was warm to him, _she _was warm, to him.

He watched as her eyes fell shut and she buried her head deeper within his shoulder, then he himself, let his eyes fall, and took in a deep breath, taking in all the scents of Letty.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Part 2

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended  
**Pairing: **Letty/Leon

* * *

Part 2

The scorching sun had risen way before she'd expected. Although it seemed she'd been asleep for more than half of a day, she still felt as though morning had come for her too soon. The morning heat had already begun to burn into her skin, and she'd become too uncomfortable to sleep. Her arm hung, drained, over the edge of the comforter, and she watched her fingers dangling as her eyes accustomed themselves to the sunlight. For a moment she believed she was at home, back in Echo Park, in the same bed she'd slept in ever since she'd been a teenager. But then her eyes started to wander around the room, focussing on objects for minutes at a time. First the chair, the dilapidated, worn dresser, the small bag in the corner of the room. The door. The door wasn't in the same place.

She turned over, the next surprise mere centimetres from her face. Leon. Sleeping. Her forehead creased and she attempted to find a reason why she didn't recognise her surroundings. But she couldn't explain why. Because after a few minutes of looking at them again, she realised she did. She recognised that chair. That small duffel bag. The pathetic dresser with a mirror as dirty as the mould on the ceiling.

Of course she knew where she was. She knew where she was when she woke up and Leon started explaining to her where Dom had gone. She knew where she was when they drove out of the country and past the Baja sign. She knew where she was headed, and she knew where she would end up.

The sheets slipped from her as she rose from the bed, and the pain she'd forgotten about flooded back to her as she attempted to reach for her trousers. She mumbled something incoherent beneath her breath and crossed the room to the small bag she'd packed. Leon had remembered to retrieve it from the boot and she was grateful for that, because if she didn't have a spare change of clothes she'd be spending time with her blood-stained shirt.

She dug through the bag, discovering a black tee and some underwear. She'd totally forgotten about the stash of money at the bottom of the bag; all of the money she'd shown Leon yesterday was all that she thought she had. But when she saw the small rolled up bundle held together by a simple elastic band, she realised financial difficulties were now definitely the least of her problems.

Except that she really didn't remember packing this money. She didn't even know she had it. But it all became clear to her when she pulled off the elastic band from the money and unrolled it. A small piece of paper in the centre.

Her eyes skimmed over the short note many times before she was able to take it in. 'Love you, Let.'

She couldn't believe that she was holding a tiny note that came from the centre of a rolled up wad of cash in the bottom of her duffel bag. And she couldn't believe that Dom had only said three words to her. Three stupid, irrelevant words.

'I need a fucking idea where you are, not a pointless note that doesn't even mean anything,' she mumbled beneath her breath as she angrily shoved the money back into the bag. The tears had begun to fall way before she was able to stop them, and so the sniffles and the sobbing were not a surprise to Leon, who'd woken when he saw her kick the bag further into it's corner.

He saw her recoil towards the wall, covering her face with her hands, and then hitting the wall furiously. It wasn't hard for him to understand what she was upset about, he had been battling out emotions within himself.

- -

She kicked the sand as she walked, watching the granules splay in front as she would tread them more. Her chocolate locks were pushed out of her face by the gentle breeze disturbing them. The sun failed to let up on the scorching land, and her back glistened as she walked beside Leon down the beach.

His normally gelled back hair was curly and blonde; he'd removed his shirt because of the merciless heat. He fiddled ever so often with the hem of his low waist jeans, hoisting them up as they slipped further and further down his hips as they strolled.

'We gotta figure out what we're gonna do,' Letty started, her voice washed away by the loud waves that washed up on the shore.

Leon looked out ahead of them, a deserted and endless beach their current destination for what seemed like it could be their forever destination. 'I know.'

There was a momentary silence between them and Letty ran her fingers back through her hair. 'We're stuck in a town in the middle of Mexico and all you can say is "I don't know?"'

He glanced her way, knowing that her harshness was coming from the emotion she was feeling from being in this situation. Her anger most probably wasn't directed at him, and he recognised that. 'What do you want me to say, Letty? Because honestly, it seems you know more about this place than I do. I mean, honestly? I don't have the answers, and probably never will. I don't have a fucking clue what's gonna happen to us.' They walked a little and Letty clucked her tongue.

'It's probably just best for us to lay low,' Leon continued after some time.

'What; like Dom told us to, whilst he goes wherever the hell it is he needs to go?' she piped up, her emotion once again causing her to take a lash at Leon.

'Let, we need to lay low for our benefit, not for his. Hell we could go find our own place, out in the middle of nowhere, we just have to make sure no one finds us.'

'Le, we are in the middle of nowhere; does this look like the centre of attention in Mexico?'

Leon sighed. 'Let, I'm not the bad guy here, stop lashing out at me. I'm trying just as hard as you to figure out what we can do.'

She stole a glance his way, having been clenching her jaw to stop her from getting even angrier. She wasn't blaming anything on him, and wasn't trying to. But her anger always needed a target and Leon was the only one around for her to direct that anger at.

'Well we could try and find our own place, cos it looks like we're stuck here for a while,' she suggested, slowing her pace to an eventual stop in the sand. She glanced out towards the ocean, the sun in her eyes and so causing her to squint. She looked back over to Leon, who'd stopped in front of her, and was looking into her eyes.

'Think we shouldn't wait around to see if Dom shows up?'

Letty took her gaze from him, and slowly it fell towards the sand. She knew deep within herself that he wasn't gonna come back for them. If there was one thing she knew about Dom it was that he liked to live his life one quarter of a mile at a time. Whether or not that meant leaving everything else behind, she didn't know. But it seemed that at the time of the heist he only had himself on his mind, no one else. She didn't wanna stick around to find out if Dom could be bothered to return for them, regardless whether or not he loved her, or vice versa. She needed to live. And Leon…he did too.

She shook her head slow, a dull nervousness arising deep within the pit of her twisting stomach. 'Honestly, Leon,' she begun, moving her eyes back up to meet the brilliance of his. 'No.' She shrugged and looked away from him, a certain tiredness in her eyes showing itself.

He saw that as she moved away from him and started to follow the same path she'd taken back up the beach. He found himself traipsing slowly behind her, moving a hand to the dip of her back to catch her attention once again. She stopped and turned to see him, and he exhaled. 'So…where do we go?'

She shrugged once again. 'I don't know, Leon. I really…I don't know.' And just like that, she was walking away from him again, the waves fiercely crashing up onto the shore, distracting him from her.

- -

The sun was beginning to set already, and Leon had found himself sleeping upon that same bed he'd woken up in that same morning. The gorgeous scent of evening breeze was drifting endlessly into their small, undecorated room, and the heat was beginning to back down a fraction. The chirping of crickets could be heard, and the seldom whooshes of the waves as they washed up on shore. Everything about this setting was perfect. It was only when he opened his eyes that things begun to break down, and so severely tore him back into the reality that was his present life.

Her dark hair fell around her shoulders so dexterously, and gleamed in every ray of sunlight that shone through the window. But as she sniffled back the tears that fell ruthlessly and rocked back and forth to her own consoling rhythm, it became apparent to him that each and every day was going to be difficult for them.

She was in pain, and in so many ways. The one person she looked up to in life had left her with no notice and no indication as to when he'd return; sure he'd said he'd come back, but Dom had a tendency to go against his word. She had also been badly wounded from the heist; hell knows she'd been in so much pain since the accident, the pain must have been tearing through her body as a car would down an open stretch. Like it never wanted to stop, and didn't intend to.

He sat up slowly, as not to coax her. He'd learnt that Letty was one not to be disturbed when in a state of depression. She tended to be more brash and coarse than normal. No one wanted that. But something within him was dying to console her, to be the one to place a hand on her shoulder and to say those words to her that would give her comfort.

Then he realised. The one person that was normally there for her was gone. She didn't know where, and if he'd ever be back. So now, it was up to him. And if he wanted to…

'Hey,' he began, alerting her to his presence. He moved towards her and made a hand gesture for her to move towards him, and as she looked at him through tear-filled eyes, she realised that she could turn to him. So that was what she would do.

And as she moved into his embrace, she felt that for the first time in her life, things might just be alright.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Part 3

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended  
**Pairing: **Letty/Leon

* * *

Part 3

He took a mouthful of his food and she watched him whilst squinting her eyes from the sun. They sat in the corner of a quiet café; not Jose's, but some other guys along the strip. And as he chewed on his breakfast, she watched him. It had never occurred to her that Dom could skip out on her again, even though he had done so many times. Leon never really knew that about him. The times before they'd met, when it was just Mia, Vince, Dom and her, he would skip.

She rolled the salt shaker back and forth in her tingling palms and sighed long. 'I know a place about twenty minutes from here,' she said to him quietly as he looked into his nearly finished plate of food. 'There's some half decent villas, not too expensive.'

He looked up at her momentarily as he finished chewing what was in his mouth. He leaned forward on his arms in close to her. 'You sure?'

She shrugged. 'We need a place.'

'What about Dom?' he questioned, and it was in that long moment that she failed to reply he realised that she was holding to what she'd first said. _He isn't coming back. _He was beginning to think that it was time for them to step away from the idea that he might. It'd been two weeks and they hadn't even received a phone call. Dom had told Leon two days. But Dom always went against his word. _So what would make him hold his word now that he'd escaped?_

They did as Letty said. Checked out a spot twenty minutes from the strip. Still moments away from the beach, just out South a little more and miles from Jose's. It was small; but liveable and they both decided it would do. It backed onto the beach and there was a small corner shop right across the road.

They decided they would move in by the end of the week, the presentation of the instant cash deposit meaning that the property was automatically secured for them…all they had to do was sign their paperwork and collect their keys.

They headed back to Jose's and Leon crashed on the bed, letting Letty know that the heat was getting the better of him.

She watched him a moment from across the room, just taking in his mellowness. He was always so relaxed about everything. Not meant as a bad thing, but he always approached things with a calm head. Letty wondered if it was clear…or far from. She knew her own was full of thoughts of the heist and Dom. And then there was everything else.

She found herself taking in the surroundings of their bedroom, and running a hand casually along the warm white frame of the dilapidated armchair as she reached it. She lingered there a little while, a sigh escaping her previously sealed lips. The bed in the centre of the room, directly across from the door, underneath the window. The rickety dresser against the other wall, barely functional. Not much else. But liveable. For now. Securing a lease on a property meant she could at least abandon this place for something with a little less history to it.

She hated to remind herself of the last time she'd been _left_ here, but she couldn't help but remember. Ten days after…she needed to clear her head…he met her back at the house in Echo Park.

Soon she was lying back on the comforter, silently thankful for its coolness, but aching to close her eyes and dream of something better. Leon was already ahead of her, into a light sleep. It was in that moment he popped right back into her head. Effortlessly. Cleverly. Sometimes she'd catch herself thinking of him when she didn't even think she was. Then there were the smells. They reminded her of him. Then there was the closeness.

The closeness…She moved a hand along the clean white sheets, her eyes remaining closed, and there it was. That emptiness in her chest. Where _was _he?

Hours passed without her noticing and Leon approached headed up the stairs towards the bedroom after having grabbed a beer from downstairs, and as he crept around the door, his eyes latched onto her slumbering form. The merciless heat had begun to back off a little, and he found himself easily adjusting now. Although his body needed a serious shower, and soon. But he couldn't help but just stand for a moment, filling that gap in the doorway, resting his eyes upon her stationary form. She looked so peaceful to him, when inside he knew she was screaming, frustrated and pissed off. He took careful steps, so careful, he barely knew he was taking them. Then he was there. At her side, like before.

But he didn't expect for her inhale sharply. He didn't expect for her to groan out a sigh of pain, open her eyelids and inhale, sharply, once again. She sat up fast, and clenched her eyes shut, her jaw did the same and then she released a whimper that filled him to the brim. That pain. She was in so much pain.

'Hey, baby gurl…' he began scooting over to her, placing a cautious hand upon the lower contours of her back; but she flinched, forced it away and within mere seconds she was crying out in pain – the sound of her voice tearing through him as he imagined the pain did through her.

He shook his head nervously, unable to sit back and say nothing. 'Nah, somethin' ain't right, gurl. We have to get you to a hospital.'

She shook her head tight as her hands clamped tight around her stomach and she leaned forward into her bent knees. 'Fuck off-' She could barely spit out the words; the pain was constant and apparently getting worse, as she cried out again, this time, louder.

'No; Letty, for fuck's sake you can barely curse at me – c'mon…' he started, taking her arm, but again, she flinched away.

'NO!' She was persistent. _What _the hell was it that made her refuse help so badly? Leon thought quickly to himself. Why wouldn't she admit that she needed help? Clear enough; he was right. She could barely speak.

But perhaps Leon persuading her wasn't needed. Seconds passed and she was flopping back against the comforter, her face unclenched, her hands also limp and those whimpers, those cries, gone. She'd passed out.

With all the footsteps he'd taken pacing up and down the waiting room, he probably could've traipsed all the way to San Pedro and back again. They were taking so long. They wouldn't let him see her. He'd had no news.

Ten hours, he noticed as he glanced at the off-white wall clock for the a-millionth time. His eyes moved down to the passing figure just gone past the waiting room door. A part of him hoped it was news.

That momentary bout of hope disheartened him a little and his knees bent beneath the heavy, indolent form that was himself, to sink into the cold blue clinical chairs that reminded him of where he was. He hated this. He hated that he couldn't help her. And he hated that he didn't know what was going on. Two weeks and they were lost. In the middle of Mexico, abandoned – as good as stuck.

He felt his jaw begin to clench as he thought of those twelve days gone by that they shouldn't still have been here. But then a doctor entered, her facial expression uneasy and her exhale telling; more so than her expression.

'Any news?' he said quickly, standing up, lowering the hand that had moments ago ran fingers through his hair.

The female doctor ushered him over to the seats, again exhaling expressively, and holding her clipboard close to her chest. 'Nurses are just moving her out of surgery.'

'Surgery?'

She nodded calmly, which was far from what Leon was feeling. 'She's suffered an immense amount of internal bleeding; on top of that she has a broken rib and a ruptured spleen.' She took a breath and sat forward in her seat a little, leaning in close towards his direction. 'Is Miss Rodriguez aware that she's pregnant?'

Leon's eyes widened, but he kept focussed long enough to utter a quick 'I don't know.'

Again she breathed. 'Her body has suffered a severe amount of internal damage that by no means can have been good for the child she's carrying. At week twelve it's vital that she should've been taking care of her body for her baby's sake.' She lowered her voice a little. 'I'm sorry sir, but we may be looking into calling the police, maybe social services…'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa…' he interrupted quickly. 'This was just an accident, it was…'

'Sir, with all due intention, "accident?" Have you ever considered talking about your problems, rather than resorting to physical abuse?'

Leon raised his eyebrows. ''Scuse me? Physical, what? You think _I _did this to her?'

'Sir, she's suffered extensive internal-'

'Yeah I know what she's been through, alright! Save it.' He got up and headed out of the room, and headed for the desk, requesting Letty's name as soon as he got there. He headed down a corridor, each step fuelled with even more anger than the last. The nerve of that doctor. Thinking even for a second that he'd lay a finger on her.

The curtains were almost pulled to and she was still asleep. Thank god. For as soon as she woke up she'd be screaming the ward down, and Leon knew it. He just didn't know why. But for now he'd have to hope that she was too drugged up to notice she was lying in a hospital bed, with a hospital gown on with tubes and needles at all angles of her wrecked body.

_If Dom could see this, _he suddenly thought aloud. And again some form of anger was building up inside of him, and he was clenching his jaw and inwardly cursing. She was pregnant for fuck's sake! And the manwho was meant to be here for her was…gone.

Unconsciousness couldn't have lasted long enough if it had tried. Not on Letty. It had been two hours, perhaps three, before her eyes blinked open; her vision blurry, her perception distorted, her body aching.

Leon had dozed off in the provided chair beside the bed, and had not noticed her coming to.

But then there was the sudden intake of breath and realisation that jolted her into a fit of panic, and her cries pulled Leon from his short-lived session of sleep. First it was the sheer terror of hearing her chilling screams, and then the immense effort needed to stop her from hurting herself, pulling needles from her skin or damaging her baby…and finally the heart wrenching sobs that followed as she clung to Leon, her eyes clamped shut, forcing the realisation of where she was to the back of her mind.

He didn't even realise how much she was shaking. He could also feel the disturbing rate at which her heart was thrumming against her chest. _She really was scared. _And just when he thought she might be alright, his embrace comforting her as much as he thought she needed…she tried to struggle from his grasp, mumbling incoherently, something about needing to get out.

'Calm down, baby gurl, c'mon…' Leon pleaded as gently as he could, however still trying to restrain her from hurting herself.

'Get the fuck off me, Leon, I have to get out of here,' she said painfully monotonously.

'No; Let, you're sick…you're gonna hurt yourself; calm down…' he tried as she continued to struggle.

'GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!' she howled, a sudden powerful tone behind her voice hitting Leon.

'Let, no; Letty you're gonna hurt the baby!' He said quickly…not thinking.

Good, in terms of getting her to stop struggling from him. Otherwise…

'What the fuck are you talking about?' she said, pulling her arm free from his grip.

He took a deep breath and stood back, stretched his arm out, directed towards her stomach. 'The nurse said…'

'Bullshit; she don't know jack about me and I'm not pregnant,' she started, her voice low and accusative, almost embarassed.

'Let, these guys know what they're talkin' about…' he continued, sensibly now.

'Bullshit!' she snapped.

'…You gotta listen to what they're sayin'-'

'No; fuck you – I don't have to listen to shit!' And it was back. That nasty stabbing pain that crippled her, brought tears to her already welled eyes. And as she leant forward, clutched her stomach, and sucked in a barely accessible breath, the tears began to fall. One by one, slowly tickling her cheeks. Then something began to happen. She began to speak words, to herself…began to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

'Just suck it up Letty. Like a tough guy,' she told herself.

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Part 4

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended  
**Pairing: **Letty/Leon

**A/N: **Thank you for your continued patience with this fiction =).

* * *

Part 4

If it hadn't been for the fact that Leon was such a smooth-talker (and mentioned they had no insurance), the doctors wouldn't have let them out that same night. He knew how dangerous it could've been for her to discharge herself, but he could see behind her eyes she'd suffered so far past her pain threshold that forcing her to stay in the one place she unashamedly loathed more than Johnny Tran would undoubtedly scar her forever, if not longer.

So he carried her. From the hospital to the car, from the car to the café, through the back of the café, up the back stairs, kicked open the door with his chunky and dirtied boot, elbowed the door open a second time as it threatened to swing back on him, and brought her back to that all too familiar bed.

She was so highly medicated that he was sure she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between being in the hospital or at home in California. Whether he was himself or her long lost partner she had relied upon so much for so long. Dominic.

It didn't take long before she was slurring to him something about being a _fucking bastard _and _how dare he be so ignorant of her feelings. _Of course, he was aware that was the drugs speaking, not her, but also, she may have thought she was speaking to Dominic.

He checked the pillows behind her head were plump enough for her head to rest upon and tucked them neatly behind her before easing her almost entirely limp body onto the comforter. He breathed a deep sigh, inwardly trying to rid himself of the past few hours. 'Try and get some rest, ey, mi Letty,' he mumbled incredibly quietly, almost as if he knew any words could rock her out of a half-waked sleep.

He slipped the thin cotton sheet down from underneath her tired legs and up again over them, so that it came to rest ever so tentatively upon her midriff. He pressed his hands into the comforter, to lean towards her face and check her consciousness, but was swiftly interrupted with a high-pitched bleat coming from his cell phone.

He hurried out of the bedroom and into the hallway above the stairs before clicking the green button.

'Ey,' he said, his voice slightly above a whisper. 'How did you…?' he said with a sudden elevated curiosity.

'No time. Can you get to the station in a half hour?' the voice said, seeming perturbed over the phone.

He hesitated. Letty. No way could she be left alone. He really didn't want to so much as contemplate carrying her back downstairs. She shouldn't really have been taken out of hospital, so it was bad enough. But to then have to bring her in the car…?

'Don't worry, I'll figure somethin' out. Buy a cap, or something,' he mumbled to the voice over the phone, aware of their nervous tone.

Leon hung up the phone almost immediately and peered around the doorframe to see Letty now lying on her side. _What, now…?_

He jogged into the café, holding his jeans up a little as he ambled over to Jose. He was lucky to find him there, although not so lucky he was the only person working behind the counter. It could be a problem.

'Hey, Jose,' he muttered briefly as he clasped his shoulder.

'Hola Leon,' he said, in his usual jovial state.

'I need you to do me a favour if you could,' he started. He lowered his voice. 'Letty's not doing so good and I gotta pop outta-'

'Aye, not a problem – she's upstairs?'

'Yeah. She's sleeping right now but not really thinking straight so if you could check her like every fifteen minutes or so…' he trailed off as Jose nodded whilst folding paper napkins into a triangle. 'Just let her know I'mma be an hour or so, maybe two, depending. I got, some…' he reached into his pocket and pulled out some strong painkillers. 'She'll have to take one in about two hours. Just in case I ain't back by then, it's two,' he said as he passed them to him, 'and she can have food but just something little and plain.'

'Si. Not a problem,' Jose said as he slipped the small medication carton into his back pocket.

'Anything happens, and you need to get in contact with me, you wanna take my number…' he urged and made a motion for a pen and paper.

Jose passed him a napkin and withdrew a pen from behind his ear, and immediately Leon scribbled upon it and left it on the steel counter behind them.

'Right. Gracias, Jose, it's a massive help.' He started to leave and as he did mentioned, 'Let me buy you a beer, later, or something.' Jose winked at him, and following that, he left swiftly, pulling out his keys from his front pocket as he ducked out of the back door.

* * *

He couldn't keep his mind off her waking up to find him not there. It was a case of _Get to the station, then get back. _The words he'd exchanged with her not long before repeatedly echoed through his mind. Even as he disappeared into the real estate office, only for a prolonged moment. The keys to the Villa didn't spend too much time in his hands. They were soon somewhere between the stick shift and the electronic lighter in the mid section of his car. The jingle of them as he rode along the open road jarred him into a pensive state. Was he to now assume responsibility for the Team? Now that Dom had vanished?

All the buzzing and whirring at the station of the engines and air conditioners and generators seemed so animated; everything was busy. Even the golden sun forced impatient rays into the station atmosphere, causing an almost unbearable heat. Beads of sweat danced their way down Leon's forehead, shoulders and chest. He checked his phone as he approached the double doors of the entrance, reminded himself of his fugitive status and attempted to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

She pulled her long, straight, brown hair from inside its restrictive ponytail and brushed it forward with her fingers to cover the majority of her face (her fringe already doing half the work for her), and Leon knew instantly that it was her. He knew that glistening mane anywhere, coupled with the delicacy of her hands and her graceful glide from one foot to the other. It wasn't until a second before she passed him, her head down and eyes to the floor that he uttered her name. 'Mia…?'

She stopped dead in her tracks, and peered nervously over her shoulder. Her already glazed eyes lit up and it took her a fraction of a second to burst into tears.

Leon passed a hand around her neck, pushing her hair ever so delicately, out of her face, his hand giving full indication of his sympathy towards her, and this entire situation. His hand slipped down into hers, and with the other, he took hold of a tiny duffel bag, a cruel representation of everything of worth that was left in her life.

* * *

They were driving for what felt like an eternity, but was a mere fifteen minutes. They drove in absolute silence, still not having greeted one another with words. The rolling pulse of the powerful car was the only sound to break their brutal silence. The car. The machine that got them into this in the first place. In between changing gear, Leon clicked his electronic car lighter into its contraption and automatically Mia's fingers gravitated to the carton of Marlboro Lights in the same compartment as those keys. She flipped open the box with her thumb; a natural reaction, and clipped a cigarette between her thumb and forefinger. In four swift motions, she flipped it filter side up, pulled out the circular electronic lighter, pressed the white stick to it and slipped it into Leon's mouth.

She'd done it so many times, she didn't realise it was anything unusual. Unusual, though, was the carton that remained open in her lap, the thumb of her right hand flicking open and closed the lid with an itching nervousness. She lifted the packet quickly and inhaled. 'Mind?' she asked chastely.

Leon glanced sideways at her. 'You don't usually smoke…?'

She shrugged as she slipped the orangey filter tip between her lips and muttered through the left side of her mouth, 'Well what we're doin' right now? Ain't nothing _usual _about that either.' She brought the heated electronic lighter once more to the end of the cigarette and drew long and hard in as it began to burn ferociously at the touch of the metal contraption. She exhaled, inwardly grateful at that point that Leon was still alive. And more importantly, with a half-full carton of cigarettes.

Leon flicked ash out of his window and exhaled. 'You got through unnoticed?' he asked curiously.

Mia scoffed, letting the cigarette linger between her fingers. She gazed lazily upon it and muttered just above her breath, 'Yeah. I guess the Feds don't notice scum passing the right way through the border.'

In a comforting way, those words jogged Leon, and he couldn't help but release a breathy chuckle from behind his lips. He made a gesture with his head towards the small duffel bag on the backseat. 'Not planning on stayin' long, huh?'

Mia flicked ash away from her cigarette and rested her hand on the open window frame. 'There's money in there. A LOT of it.'

Leon exhaled a cloud of grey/blue, contemplating as he did his response, having cast his mind instantaneously to the rolls of cash Letty repeatedly pulled from her own duffel bag. 'Is it Dom's?' he glanced at her, half expecting her to say yes, half expecting a crippling response like Letty's. He had thought up until that moment of Letty revealing all that cash that he knew down to a 'T' what she was capable of. But it was his own ignorant assumption of her that hindered him in realising these women both essentially grew up around Dominic, meaning every single day, they sought and maintained a wisdom that was a fraction deeper than his own.

Mia flicked the long line of grey ash off the almost burnt out cigarette out of the window. 'A bit of it is, I guess. But I did what I had to do,' she muttered as she kept her eyes on the road. She drew long off the end of her cigarette and they shared a brief glance. 'Dom always left me in control of the Books and finances. He told me just before Tran passed by not to leave any trace of the business behind, so…' her voice fizzled out. Her eyes wandered around the passing landscape and on the landscape ahead of them. It coaxed her into questioning their whereabouts. 'I don't recognise this place – we're going to Jose's, right?'

Leon shook his head. 'We rented a Villa further along the coast.' He kept his statement as blunt as possible, knowing that Mia would attempt to ask him questions regardless of what he'd told her.

'How did you…?' she started to ask, though was quickly interrupted by that all too familiar grumbling voice.

'I did what I had to do.' He checked her midnight eyes for validity; that she might have believed a word of what he'd said. She gave him barely anything to work off, the cigarette having an obvious calming effect on her. Lucky thing. 'S'alright up there. It's still on the coast but it's tucked away. I figured I could find a job, you and Let can…do whatever…but either way, it's perfect for layin' low.'

Mia raised her eyebrows, the rush of overwhelming emotion she'd experienced in the past few weeks a sore but very accurate reminder of how much she'd gotten used to _doing what needs to be done._

_

* * *

_

As her tiny bag hit the white wooden floor, it echoed a sharp sound through the simple, but well-furnished bedroom. The double bed fit comfortably against the back wall, where the large bay window was positioned in almost perfect unison above it. The plainest of sheets lay upon the bed; off-white spread, off-white pillows, brilliant white metal bedstead. Apart from the wardrobe and two dainty side tables (both pinewood), not much else furnished the room, except for a pair of incredibly simple white drapes. Thank goodness the walls were painted a fresh apple colour, otherwise she'd have felt as though she just checked into an insane asylum.

She almost instantly caught herself contemplating how she would be expected to fit in around all of this. The new villa, all paid for, in a new country, suggested a new start. So would that mean she'd have to start a fresh herself? She'd barely gotten her head around leaving LA; it had been a mere handful of hours just gone. The merciless memory of passing through the border replayed on her mind over and over, coupled with the idea of Leon, Letty and Dominic doing the same not too long before. It was all an overwhelming joke, and she had no idea where her brother was. She decided it should be the next question to ask Leon where he was, then quickly remembered a conversation she'd had with Letty a long time ago, after five beers (each) and never-ending tears. The thought of that worried her.

Leon tapped on the door lightly, then pressing it open with his folded knuckles. 'I'mma take off,' her told her plainly. 'Letty's at Jose's, I gotta watch her tonight; will you be aight?' he asked her promptly.

Mia kept in mind the one pressing question at the forefront of her mind, deciding to save it until the last minute if she could. 'Uh…' she peered down at the bag on the floor and slowly pushed her fringe out of her face as she picked her eyes back up to meet Leon, hoping he'd silently realise that _no, _she wasn't _really _going to be _aight_. She concluded that avoiding his question altogether would make do, for now. '…What's wrong with Let?'

Leon's stomach instantly tightened. Was it right for him to tell Mia that she had just discovered she was carrying? 'The…accident. She was injured pretty bad and it turns out she had a few, ur… complications.' Well telling part of the truth was the best he could do, given the circumstances. He knew worrying Mia beyond necessary measures was a bad idea.

'Why isn't she at a hospital?' she heard herself say the words as she replayed them back in her head and instantly knew the answer to her own question. She sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to another, making a gesture then dropping an arm to her side as she released a breath. 'Of course. This is Let we're talking about.'

Leon hummed low in his throat, a semi-verbal agreement being sufficient acknowledgement to her statement. His own slight shake of the head told a quick tale of _ain't no use goin' down that road again. We know what happened last time. _'Well. She _did _go. But…' he cocked his head to one side. 'I think it's more dangerous her bein' there than back at Jose's.' He made a point of not saying home. 'Anyway,' he said through an exhalation. 'I got her some meds and she came through the surgery alright, so I guess-'

'Surgery?' Mia said, knowing that Leon would understand the subtext to her question.

Leon sighed, exhausted. 'Yeah. Told you it was bad.' He paused for a second. 'I gotta get to her. I'll check in with you in the morning. There's a cell phone on the counter – only use that one. There's also a grocery store at the end of the street when you go right out of the complex. Sorry I couldn't get you any food, but it might still be open?' he rambled, knowing Mia would understand it was counter-productive, but necessary. It was least of all, small talk. He clasped the doorframe behind him and offered her a slight smile. 'If Let's feelin' a bit better tomorrow I'll try and get us moved up here, or maybe the day after, so you won't be holdin' down the fort alone for too long, ey chica.' He checked her eyes for a sense of forced agreement, and she barely responded with a nod. He ushered her in for a hug, and felt her hold her breath against it, so tense. What else could he expect?

Within seconds of him turning from her, she listened to him close the front door, start his engine and drive away.

She ambled out of her lifeless bedroom to the open-plan lounge/diner. There it was. The only form of communication she was given. Although it was good work, she decided. He'd made such an effort. She wondered for a moment if it was Dom's work, or Leon's, but quickly decided that Dom never was very good at domestic responsibility. That'd been Mia's job ever since she could remember. She slid the phone off the counter and eased it into the palm of her upturned hand. After fiddling with it for a minute or so she learnt how to see her address book and what button to press to exit a menu. Once in the address book, she proceeded to scroll through the list of contacts. They were modest at best. Jose. Leon. Letty. That was…it. And all she could think about once she'd examined the list was that Dom, and _his _cell phone number were both nowhere to be found.

_Surely it should've been top of the list (alphabetically)?_ Something wasn't right with that.

It suddenly dawned on her that she hadn't seen anything around at all that could've been a trace of Dominic. She couldn't sense him, she couldn't smell him.

She took it upon herself to briefly scan the villa for any trace of him whatsoever. Another bedroom. The only other one. Clearly untouched, everything in it was as pristine as her own assigned bedroom. She peered into the bathroom, holding the sprung door with her hand. Untouched.

Her feet padded inquisitively around the short corner on the walk back to the lounge. Nothing. No sign that he'd set foot in there, no indication as to where he could be, no mention of him, _nothing_. No cell phone number. Nothing. Mia suddenly felt the most nervous she ever had in her short life. _Leon didn't mention anything about him, _and that scared her. She knew exactly what her brother was like. And that scared her. She'd lived with him for two and a half decades, almost.

Just letting that thought envelope her mind was the factor that set her nerves into overdrive. She knew _exactly _what her brother was like. That really, _really _scared her.

* * *

**TBC**


	5. Part 5

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended  
**Pairing: **Letty/Leon

* * *

Part 5

Thankfully, Leon's prediction of Letty's health improving was correct, and she was practically on her feet the very next day. There was an alternative mentality about her – she assumed a state of pensiveness and her awareness of her health also improved dramatically. She ambled up the stairs leading towards their room, pacing herself, with a bunch of medical gauze and tape in her right hand. She gripped the banister with her left. As she slid into the bedroom, she released a sigh, clearly exhausted by her trip to the pharmacy. Leon was packing and tidying the few things they had with them, and motioned towards her as she headed for the bed. He cleared a space for her to sit and she thanked him with an easy touch upon his forearm.

'Will you help me?' she asked as she showed him the stuff she'd bought.

He nodded coolly, and proceeded to unwrap the plastic packaging from the materials. 'Huh; they're already cut to size,' he noticed, to which Letty passed a "_mhm" _through her lips.

She attempted to peel back her existing dressing, but Leon stopped her, squeezing her hand a little.

'S'alright, I got it, baby,' he said breathily, concentrating on correctly applying tape to the corners of the impressively white gauze.

'Thanks,' Letty mumbled in an almost whisper as she kept her eyes on his hands.

It stung her skin her skin a fraction as he tugged on the surgical tape against her body, and she showed her teeth, trying to keep her expression silent. Leon caught on that it was hurting her, and leant in to kiss her forehead.

'Just think about the grill-out, mi pura,' he said cheerily to which she cocked her head to one side.

'What grill-out?' she asked as she noticeably held her breath and grabbed at the bed sheet with one hand. She kept glancing between Leon and the wound as it became revealed bit by bit.

'The one we're havin' when we get to the new place this afternoon.' He clucked his tongue and flashed a grin at her. She blinked indolently and shook her head slowly, humouring his love for sun, beer and chicken, and then it dawned on her how much she loved that about him.

'Hmm. That sounds…nice,' she said, continuing to humour him.

He placed the old, stained gauze dressing in the bin in the corner of the room, having to lean back over his shoulder to do so, then, as if a pro, took a little alcohol from a bottle he had lying around, dabbed it in some unused gauze, and pressed it to her wound, checking every second that he wasn't hurting her.

'Does it feel cleaner?' he joked as he tossed the second piece of gauze.

She raised her eyebrows. 'I'd rather have drunk it, let's put it that way, eh.' And like a ton of bricks, they both remembered that Letty was pregnant.

An awkward silence rose between them and Letty chewed on her lips. Leon pressed the edges onto the unrelenting muscle of her abdomen, and momentarily caught himself loving the feeling of her skin next to his hand. He tried to snap out of it by quickly moving his hands to the unused gauze still exposed on the bed, and slipping it back into its original packaging, but Letty knew him, and saw the anxiety he emitted through every motion he used to clear the medical equipment.

'Want me to go get us the food and drink for later?' she mused.

Leon shook his head, keeping his eyes away from hers. 'Nah…I'll pick it all up on the way to the house.'

She pulled on her plain, slightly dirtied white wife beater and slid back towards the head of the bed. 'Mind if I nap, then?' she asked.

He glanced at her. 'Mhm. Rest as much as you can. You need it. I'll wake you when I'm ready.'

She smiled a little as she laid her head against the cool, inviting pillow. Her tired but conscious state passed a question by her that she remembered she needed to ask. 'Where did you go last night?' she asked him, slurring into the pillow.

His stomach tightened and he passed a hand over his mouth, still avoiding her gaze. 'Er… had to collect the keys for the house. Took a little longer than I hoped. You know what paperwork is like.'

Letty knew Leon. Planning ahead was _never _his thing. Then again, everything was different now. He could've changed in the short time that their lives had been turned upside down. She shrugged it off quickly and almost instantly let her knackered eyelids fall over her eyes.

Ten minutes passed and Leon pulled his phone from his front jean pocket. He tapped on some keys, then somewhere across town Mia saw her own phone light up. She opened the text message and read over it closely:

_How you holdin up? should be there by 3. gonna grill out. anything you need? Leon._

_

* * *

_

It was in fact around four in the afternoon when they pulled up to the villa, its exterior suggesting a carpenter had thrown up white wooden slats onto it. The whole house was covered in it, and even had a hint of it in the form of a fence poking up either side of the plain, but smart concrete pathway.

Letty released a sigh as she grabbed the keys from their usual compartment in the car and clicked the car door open. She took it very easy as she meandered up the pathway, and slipped the key into the front door, easily. Leon purposefully hung back, taking his time unloading the one pathetic-looking case of luggage and bags of groceries from the backseat, knowing Mia was right on the other side of the front door.

The door swung open with the same effortlessness of the key unlocking the door, and she stepped in, reminding herself of how satisfied she'd been when they checked the place out before. It was simple, but it was also spacious, and had no hint of Dominic in it.

She wasn't given long to adjust to her new surroundings. A meek voice alerted her, saying in an almost whisper, 'Letty.'

She looked to where she thought the voice was coming from and her breath caught in her throat as she saw her (sister's) face. 'Oh my god.' A split second passed and they were embracing one another, Mia nearly crying once again, though it seemed she'd been doing so all day, as her eyes were red, and stunningly so.

Letty squeezed Mia tight as she could, _really _meaning it, and Mia buried her face in the crook of Letty's neck. Mumbling through the shorter girl's dark brown hair, she made it clear why she'd been crying. 'I thought you were dead.'

Letty released a breath she had been unaware she was holding and clamped her eyes shut. 'I feel it,' she said bluntly. She ended her embrace with Mia, instead bringing her hands to rest on the top of her arms. 'When did you get here?'

'Yesterday. Leon didn't say?'

Letty shook her head. 'Sneaky little shit. Better this way though, huh?'

'Yeah. I think it was his idea of a nice surprise,' Mia quipped, trying hard as Letty to make light of their crappy situation. 'Leon outside, yea?' she confirmed and Letty nodded. 'Looks like he has a lot of bags, I'll give him a hand-' she decided and Letty pulled her hair back out of her face as she acknowledged Mia's decision with a nod.

Leon was met with a half grin and tentative hand upon his shoulder. 'Hey, Leon,' she said calmly. He smiled back at her, inwardly grateful that she was okay, although he noticed her red eyes and his smile faded a little, realising the inappropriateness of continuing to smile at her whilst knowing that she was visibly upset. 'Let me grab those bags,' she said bluntly and reached past him into the backseat.

Leon had lit a cigarette whilst Letty was inside, and was just coming to the end of it. He flicked it into the road beside him and allowed Mia to come past him. There was a part of him desperate to light another one straight away, as he'd been thinking how long it would be until Mia asked about her brother's whereabouts, or if she already knew where he was and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell him. The very thought of Dominic disappearing sickened him to his stomach, after all they'd already been through together. After everything they'd been through for him.

* * *

The grill-out was modest at best.

Leon ploughed through six beers whilst Mia chastely handled just the one, and Letty pretended to Mia that she felt too unwell to drink (and mentioned something about meds, too). Mia made a cheeky comment about how it had never, _ever, _stopped her previously, then shrugged it off after remembering she had actually been through surgery.

Little did _she _know.

Leon excused himself after polishing off his sixth beer, desperate for unconscious relief – the sun was slaying him and he was indescribably knackered. He near enough passed out right then and there, the girls silently and individually trying to figure out if he _had _actually passed out or just fallen asleep very, very quickly.

Mia didn't leave it long before she asked the first question of many she'd mentally compiled for the two present members of "the Team." She cleared her throat and shifted in the sand to face Letty who was lying flat on her back (much like Leon was) with her eyes closed.

'Letty?' she asked meekly, to which Letty squinted her eyes open to Mia, using her hand as her sunshade. 'Where's Dom?'

Silence. Letty sat up slowly, placing her hands behind her to see Mia better. She exhaled a long breath, in preparation for her response to the worried young woman. 'He… he said he'd uhm…' Apparently the preparation didn't work at all. She inhaled sharply, mad at herself for being so crap at this. 'He's not here,' she then said through a sigh.

Mia was a little annoyed. 'I can see that.' She passed a hand through her hair. 'I mean where has he gone?'

Letty watched her anxious expression deepen, and tried again. 'Mia. We've had this conversation before. A long time ago. 1997. It was July. Remember? You knew the answer then.' She waited a second. 'You know the answer now,' she mumbled.

Mia didn't want to believe her. 'You're not seriously telling me he's vanished into Mexico.'

'Might not even be Mexico, sweetheart…'

'Lettyy-'

'What? What the fuck am _I _supposed to say, Mia? _I _didn't leave you! No; I'm _right here, _Leon's right fucking _here_ – your BROTHER is the one who's gone! Gone to fuck knows where, couldn't give a shit about his goddamn _family!' _She instantly didn't mean it. Didn't mean to yell. Didn't mean to lose her temper.

Silence. Mia apologised to Letty by placing an upturned palm upon her elbow. 'I'm sorry,' she then said.

'No, I shouldn't have shouted-'

'I mean I'm sorryfor my _brother's_ behaviour.' She chuckled a little. '_Bendejo._'

Letty shook her head and laughed a little. The smile soon faded, remembering again her pregnancy.

Silence.

'If it helps… I'm in love with a cop.'

Letty's eyes widened, and Mia looked at her as if to say _"are you fucking kidding me – Brian's a buster?" _ and Mia shrugged. Letty clucked her tongue. Another silence.

'I'm pregnant.' Another silence, this time, longer.

Mia then sucked in a breath of air, looked at her as if to say _"YOU're gonna be a Mom?" _Letty laughed at Mia's face.

'What a dysfunctional pair we are,' Letty mused.

'Have you er… spoken to Dom about…? '

Let shook her head. 'He took off before I found out. I mean… I _kinda _knew I could be, but… I didn't know for sure until he'd gone.' They both absorbed the information each other had just received. 'Have you spoken to Brian?'

Mia shook her head. 'He left me a voicemail message, tellin' me again, that he meant what he said – that he had feelings for me. That it was all real.'

She shrugged, then grabbed her phone from her pocket; not the one Leon had given her, but her previous one. She loaded the voicemail message and pressed the loudspeaker option. Letty listened to about four words before realising. 'Shit; Mia, don't use that.'

She ripped the phone from out of her hand and without admonition, tore the back cover off and removed the battery and sim card. She didn't hesitate in snapping the sim in half, then proceeded to chuck the phone as hard and far as she could into the ocean before them.

Mia barely had a chance to react as Letty disposed of the contraption in the space of about ten seconds, though once Letty plopped back into the sand, she caught up. 'Oh my god.'

'The feds can use GPS to track us, Mia – you _know _that.'

'Leon gave me a new phone, it didn't occur to me-' she started, apologetically.

'S'alright, you're not thinkin' straight. Hell, none of us are.' She paused, and thought it appropriate to then apologise for destroying her phone. 'Sorry.'

Mia shook her head, now worried that she'd blown their elaborate cover.

* * *

**TBC**


	6. Part 6

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.**  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon , Mia/Brian

* * *

Part 6

He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so hot. The merciless heat tore beads of sweat from his forehead, chest, neck arms, right down to his toes, each droplet bringing him a step close to dehydration or sunstroke.

He eased the gearstick into fifth, as if in the midst of a quarter-mile race. In fact, he tried with all his efforts not to behave as if he was. He'd taken a massive risk by letting Dominic go, and his Sergeant _knew _he had been hiding it from him. _Too bad he didn't have any solid evidence on him. _

In regards to this, he had to be on his best behaviour. Especially now. He couldn't risk getting pulled over for something as trivial as speeding, when he was about to drive into the bigger picture.

So he resisted. Resisted the urge to plunge all the weight of his foot onto the almighty gas pedal, resisted the urge to swipe his finger over his sneakily implemented NOS system, the one button silently telling him it belonged in a car way more than he ever did, or could. He resisted the urge to behave like Dominic and live his life a quarter mile at a time, worrying about nothing else but his freedom being right at the tip of his fingers, embedded in the roar of engine beneath him.

He resisted the urge to disappear. Because he had a job to do. For now.

Mia and Letty had gone for a walk. Leon was mulling around in the kitchen, attempting to _clean_, but faffing around too much. Something caught his eye: he thought he caught a glimpse of someone passing behind him, but outside. Then he caught it again. _"Definitely someone there" _he thought aloud. It inwardly panicked him. He slung the red and white chequered tea cloth over his exposed shoulder and traipsed tentatively toward the patio doors, widening his eyes and perking up his ears.

He barely made it outside when he heard a voice call from behind him. 'Leon.'

He turned. _Shit_. He bolted. Luckily he had his car keys on him.

* * *

The tyres ate the asphalt, sizzling its onyx splendour as the car slid off the sidewalk at great speed. First gear was irrelevant, and his muscular and exposed arm dragged the stick shift roughly but daringly and momentarily into second then fleetingly into third. He ignored an opportunistic turning, knowing that the main objective was to escape. His car was everything but a hindrance in this circumstance, its Mashimoto ZX tyres excellent, and engine unrelenting and fuelled to the brim with stamina. The engine roared beneath him, causing a little more than a stir on the streets. The speedometer hit ninety and his foot dared not ease up on the accelerator.

Brian attempted, with skill and pure determination, to stay on his back, matching every move Leon pulled. Leon swerved down a side road, knowing no better than Brian where it might lead to. It in fact took them down onto an industrial estate; a deserted one.

Leon pulled into fifth gear and ripped down the long, straight road ahead of him, glancing every few moments at how far behind him Brian was. He just couldn't shake him, so tempted now to flick that NOS switch. Brian was thinking the same. It came without admonition, his thumb deciding immediately that it was the best way to get ahead to cut him off. He did just that – before Leon could make the decision to let his powerful machine go one step further by letting it be taken over by NOS.

So Brian's car hit one-thirty, easy, one-forty, one-fifty and he passed Leon, approaching the end of the road, where a warehouse stood, and the road finished. He swerved and slammed his foot on the breaks, cutting Leon off from any chance to escape.

As Leon approached Brian, he toyed with the idea of speeding up, and though his aim there would have been to avenge his entire family's downfall, he decided it was too easy, and in a split second he had plunged his booted foot onto the break and landed mere inches from the side of Brian's car.

In a swift motion he opened his door, stormed out – slammed shut the door, strode in three paces toward Brian's car, opened his door, drug him out by his blonde curly hair, and launched him onto the bonnet of Leon's own car. In a second he was at him again, and Brian received the back of Leon's hand across his face with an almighty crack. Leon grabbed a fistful of his shirt, swung him off the bonnet and instantly head butted him, sending him flying towards the ground.

Leon noticed Brian's uncocked gun wedged in the back of his jeans and grabbed it, then rolled him over by kicking him hard in the stomach. He pointed the gun at him, so full of rage that tears threatened to spill from his bulging eyes.

Brian was _beat up_, if ever there was an expression for it. His lip was busted and he had a swollen, red bump on his head from where Leon had nutted him. His stomach was on fire with pain. He couldn't move; he was fraught with pain.

'I could kill you right this second. _Hell knows_ I want to.' He cocked the 9mm and held it steadily towards Brian's head. 'What were you doin' in my house?' he growled, the scariest he'd ever bee , his voice rumbling steadily but frighteningly.

Brian held up his hands in a position as to surrender to Leon. 'I was trying to find Mia, that's all – I swear, man.'

Leon scoffed and took a step towards him, still pointing the gun at his head. 'I musta hit your head too hard and you've gone deaf. I said…' he moved in right next to him, stooping down slowly, and pointed the gun right up to his forehead. '…What…THE FUCK…were you doing in _my _house? And _don't _give me _shit_.' This time his voice was quieter…and even more frightening, a familiar facet of Dominic's personality presenting itself in him.

Brian dared not move. He realised Leon had only half cocked the gun as he turned the contraption fully, which panicked him.

'I swear Le, I wanted to find Mia. I _swear_ it.'

'It's Leon.' He looked into Brian's eyes for the truth. 'So your boss sent you to bring us in, huh.'

Brian shook his head. 'I let Dom go, Leon.' Leon pressed the gun further into his head. 'No; I swear. He took the Supra – I told him to go. And I just wanted to find Mia.'

He chuckled menacingly to himself and wiped his chin. 'You're somethin' else.'

'No; I love her, Leon. I'm completely in love with her,' he told her plainly, trying to prove to him that he had nothing to hide.

They both looked at each other for a prolonged moment, Brian's heart pounding right through his chest, his breath heavy, Leon's so still. Leon's eyes passed over the beast that Brian was driving. It reminded him a little of his Skyline, but a little more elegantly shaped.

He let the gun relax into the palm of his hand and took his finger off the trigger, now beginning to sympathize with the pathetic blonde man ever so slightly. He knew what unrequited love felt like.

'Whaddyu want?' he mumbled quickly as he squinted his eyes at him.

Brian sat up slowly. 'I just…I just wanna talk to her.' He made a gesture to signify that was his only intention.

Leon watched him for a moment. 'Somethin' tells me she ain't gonna wanna see you, Spilner.'

Brian exhaled slowly, his eyes so wide. 'It's…actually…erm… My name's O'Connor. Brian, O'Connor.'

Leon just glared at him, in a state of disbelief. Then, just before he spoke, he clucked his tongue and wet his lip with his tongue. 'You talk to her, you say what you gotta say, then you _leave. _You get out of our lives for good, and I don't want nothin' to do with you again – capiche, bendejo?' he said to him, in a near whisper.

He stood up, then chucked his gun on the floor beside him (causing Brian to flinch), turned his back on him and got back in his car, glancing back at him once.

Brian watched him start his engine, and took that as a sign to get a move on. He rose quickly to his feet and headed for his car, only to be jolted by a loud beep – Leon's horn. He cocked his head towards the passenger seat, silently telling him to get in Leon's car.

As he got in and closed the door, Leon lit a cigarette off his car lighter, then inserted the lighter in its original place. Leon's three-point turn was as smooth as the filter in his cigarette.

Brian replayed the last few minutes over and over in head, recalling measure for measure the feeling of his own gun at his own forehead, the force of Leon's hand as it cracked across his right cheek. His lip was busted and bleeding slightly. But now, all he could do was focus on seeing Mia.

* * *

Back at the house, Mia and Letty had been discussing the options available to them in their fugitive status. They could either a) assume and fully accept their position in San Antonio del Mar, find jobs under pseudonyms and try to live a peaceful life. No racing, no heists, no more cheating. Or b) they could find Dominic, and risk their lives (again) in doing so. The two girls kept going round in circles. They both _wanted _to find Dominic, and were equally furious with him for ditching them all in their greatest time of need.

The front door clicked open and Brian strolled in chastely behind Leon. It took Mia a moment to realise it was really him, and in that moment, tears of anger, hatred, lust AND love flooded her. She stood up quickly, not really knowing what to do with herself.

Letty stood a moment after her, keeping the idea of "staying calm" at the front of her mind. She wasn't sure she could, but even so, she just watched. Watched as Brian approached Mia, Leon hanging back and lighting _another _cigarette by the kitchenette.

Mia's eyes were really welling up now, and she felt pathetic, because she was _in _this situation and hadn't the slightest clue what was to come next. Pathetic because she hadn't hit him yet. In fact, an almighty CRACK at that exact point shocked all four of them into reality. She _had _hit him. With the palm of her hand, and in an instant, Letty was pulling her away from Brian by her forearms. She stepped in front of Mia and watched Brian try to compose himself.

'What the fuck are you doin' here Brian? What, you didn't cause enough trouble the first time?'

Brian fixed his gaze with Mia's as Letty proceeded to attempt to calm Mia down, as the slap she'd given to Brian had forced her emanating tears to cascade toward her chin and coax an almighty cry from her lips.

Brian was fucking persistent. He took Mia in his arms, slinking round Letty, bringing a tender hand up to cup the back of her head. He tried to invite her in for an embrace, which _did _happen, but lasted only for a few seconds, as then she was suddenly wriggling from within his grasp and attempting to hit him again, this time, against his chest with her closed fists. Brian continued to hold her, struggling himself against the force of her blows. Mia wasn't a weak woman. She quickly gave in to his touch, and sobbed uncontrollably into his chest, deep inside feeling ultimately relieved that he was still alive, and more importantly here; holding her.

'You guys have gotta get outta here,' he said, plainly. Letty's eyes widened and Mia hushed. 'Feds are comin' down on you as we speak.'

Leon exhaled his cigarette smoke. 'How? Who else knows we're here?' he asked brutally. He squinted instantly, remembering that Brian had brought his car there when he'd been snooping about before.

'GPS,' Brian muttered under his breath. 'It's integrated into the car, they're tracking every move I make.'

Leon threw his hands up in the air, rolled his eyes and turned away from Brian. 'You fuckin' idiot,' he mumbled, his gravelly tone sounding more threatening than he intended to be.

Mia stepped away from him, shaking her head. He looked straight into her eyes. 'I didn't have a choice, Mia,' he muttered, his voice breaking slightly. 'If I'd ripped out the GPS they'd have figured me out and it would've been game over anyway. They sent me ahead…They were still gonna come regardless of whether or not I was still working on this case.' Letty shook her head in disbelief. 'My car's ditched out in an industrial park somewhere. I'm not goin' back for it. I'm here for _you_. _Not _my job. I _swear _it.'

Leon stalked over to Brian and without admonition, grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pulled him with both hands towards the front door. If it weren't for Mia telling him quickly to "leave it" he would have literally kicked him out on the sidewalk.

Mia's gaze fell to the floor momentarily. 'You…know where Dom went?' she whimpered.

Brian shook his head slowly. 'I gave him the keys to the Supra, watched him drive away after all the shit with Tran happened and that was the last I saw of him.' He appeared to be as clueless as the rest of them as to Dominic's whereabouts. And for some reason, they all seemed to believe him on that one.

Letty shook her head and sat down, folding her head into her hands in defeat. Brian knew this wasn't going to be easy, but still tried his luck. He glanced at Leon, who had been glaring at him continuously, then took a few steps towards Mia and held a hand out to her. 'Let me come with you.'

Leon scoffed. Letty chuckled into her hands.

'Why?' Mia asked, visibly exhausted.

'Because I was gonna give up my life – my job, my badge…everything…so I could be with you.'

Mia shook her head and stepped away from him, and Letty piped up. 'You sound like Dom,' she said, her back to them all. 'Selfish. It's all about _you_.' She drew in a breath as she stood up to look at him and crossed her arms slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on him all the while. 'JESSE…is _dead_. VINCE…' she tilted her head to the side, keeping her eyes on him still. '…Not far off, for all we know. And Dom is gone. All because of your cocky pink slip shit. Don't tell me you were forced into it. You could've walked away at any point. You didn't.'

'Exactly; I _didn't_.' He turned to Mia, who was now over by her bedroom door. 'I mean it, Mia. I'm stickin' with you.' He glanced at Leon, then Letty, who was swaying slowly from side to side, looking as if she could hit out at any moment. 'Fuck it all. THIS is my life, now. You can't try to blame me for the shit you all were pullin' in LA, but you can at least give me credit for not bringin' you in when I had the chance. I've no interest in that. And I know you were doin' as Dom said.' He looked into Mia's eyes once again. 'Please, Mia. Let me come with you.'

Mia couldn't help it, and only a few hours later he was in the back of Leon's car, next to her, and they were out of there.

* * *

**TBC**


	7. Part 7

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.**  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon , Mia/Brian

This is a short sequence, so expect more fairly soon. Thank you for your continued patience with it. It's changing all the time so putting up new parts is proving difficult as I'm continually going over bits I wrote almost a year ago =).

* * *

Part 7

They were lucky enough to have Mia's share of money to use in the future, otherwise finding a place for the four of them might've been twice as difficult, with the added pressure of running digging into them all already.

Evenings started to come a fraction quicker, but the heat was still unbearable. That same passiveness that engulfed Letty and Leon when they first arrived in Mexico seemed to find its way into everything the four of them did. They changed accommodation each night; never sleeping in the same town twice, for fear that the feds might be smart enough to follow their scent like bloodhounds. There seemed to be no sense of relief for them, no rest bite.

Even when Leon closed his and Letty's bedroom door on the ending day, and rested his weary head upon the (nearly) flattened uninviting hotel pillow. More and more each night he watched himself listening to Letty sleeping, finding himself dying to be an inch or two closer to her. It scared him when he had to change her medical dressing, as he worried how obvious he'd make it that he sought a moment a day to touch her skin, and prided himself on being allowed to plant a kiss on her forehead once he was finished.

It was comforting to him, though, because she asked for his help everyday. It had sort of become their "thing." The five or ten minutes in the day when they were both awake, aware, and so chastely intimate. Leon found himself almost looking forward to that time of day, knowing she was at the least, likely to question. And in a strange and confused way, he kicked himself for believing that she _would _judge him, because deep down beneath the mess of her unfair wound, somewhere in the pit of her stomach, she wanted (and maybe even needed) his touch too.

Now, it was 3:02am. For some reason or another Leon had found himself polishing off a carton of cigarettes. Tonight, they were staying in a hotel apartment in the city on the fourth floor. They figured it would be easier to hide amongst a mass of people rather than out in the sticks, for tonight. Leon leant his head outside their bedroom window to smoke his last cigarette. Who was he kidding? He couldn't sleep. No amount of beer, Mexican heat or exhaustion could fix that. As he exhaled his second toke he wished for a moment that he had some marijuana. He'd not touched a spliff in close to half a year. Not that he was desperate for some; he just knew it might help him sleep a little better.

But now he was halfway through his cigarette, contemplating popping to a late night stall for more.

His train of thought was quickly disturbed when he felt (much to his surprise) the tender hands of Letty slipping effortlessly and tenderly around his hips. Her touch entailed that recognisable chastity that had established itself between them. That is, until she stepped in close to him. So close that first, he could feel her press her growing pregnant stomach into the dip of his muscular back, then her sensual breath against the middle of his shoulder blades. To follow was the infallible softness of her voice. She pressed her forehead ever so slightly against his back. 'Leon: feel this,' she said, her tone a fraction above a whisper.

At first, he realised he was tensing his muscles, unbelievably stimulated by her delicate and wonderful embrace. He clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, waited for a little under ten seconds, and there it was.

'Wow. Has this happened before?' he asked, mesmerized.

'This is the first time. Just now,' she whispered.

He felt her tighten her embrace upon him, and it was only when he felt something obscure, though damp hit his back that he realised she was crying. His hands slipped down to hers and he turned to face her, allowing her to continue to hold him.

Slowly, his lips moved to that familiar spot on her forehead. His lips remained there momentarily, his hands moved to stroke her hair, his nose pulled in the gorgeous scent of her. 'You're amazing,' he said to her so quietly. He rested his elbows on her shoulders and cupped her cheeks in his hands. 'You miss him?' She raised her gaze to meet his, her eyes screaming "Yes" but vocally she made no commitment to respond to him. 'He's missing every second of this…and it's breakin' my heart watching you go through it alone,' he whispered slow, almost enunciating each word.

Letty took a deep breath, and ran her hands slowly first, up his arms, tracing his chiselled features then slow, up his shoulders, his neck, his jaw line, then back through his hair. She watched what she was doing, and when she came finally to rest both hands in the grooves between his neck and shoulders, she met his gaze with her own again.

Now Leon's eyes were screaming, and he was in ecstasy at her touch upon him.

It must've been another minute or two before she finally spoke. 'The only thing that breaks _my _heart is that you think he matters anymore.'

She watched him. Watched him take in that statement. Watched him realise what she meant by Dominic "not mattering anymore." Watched him pensively rest his forehead against hers and allow his gaze to fall.

'It's _different_ now,' she whispered. 'Just say it, Leon.'

'Why?'

'Because you're here. And _you _matter.'

Leon closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, he saw her. Waiting. And so patiently. And suddenly he realised she had stopped waiting for Dominic a long time ago, and was now waiting solely for him.

'You're the only woman I've ever fallen in love with, Letty.' He said it so plainly, but also as if _he'd_ been waiting to say it forever.

* * *

**TBC**


	8. Part 8

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.**  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon, Mia/Brian

As promised. But this one is fairly long. Enjoy.

* * *

Part 8

**August 20th, two-thirty am, somewhere on Highway 78, California. 1998.**

The slinky whirr of the panther-like Honda Civic told a tale of brazen mischievousness as it slid in front the red and black semi truck, with a big bold logo printed boldly along its flanks. Three Civics in total played, and all three positioned themselves on all sides of the truck except for the back.

Dom raised a small and dainty walkie-talkie to his mouth and held down the "talk" button. 'Let's make this a fast one,' he said seriously.

From Car Two (on the 'left' side) Leon clicked his talkie. 'Haha, are you sure that ain't bedroom talk, eso; it sounds like something Leticia might say to you?'

Leon heard Vince laughing from Car One (in front) and Letty rolled her eyes as she clutched her large black helmet in both hands.

'Nah-ah dawg. From sunset 'til sunrise, a'ight – that's how we play it,' Dom said coolly.

'I should know, I sleep in the room next you, haha,' Vince said, holding his helmet between his fingers, getting ready to put it on.

'Right, guys, quick as possible, we gotta get this order to the border by 9am and we're runnin' half a day behind. Leon, Jess – keep it tight; I want no mess on either side. Letty, V; eyes wide open. Leon; scanners.'

One by one each member of the Team piped up a 'Copy that,' those words clearly demonstrating they had done this a million times.

'Okay Team: let's go.'

And just like pros, Vince climbed first, pulling the windscreen with his tools off in one fluid swipe. Then Leon and Dom swiftly swapped places and Letty hiked into the truck, moving with the same diligence and precision as the panther-like cars, and knocked out the driver as fast as she could, then took his place in the driver's seat.

There was always a moment of unsteadiness when she hustled into the driver's seat because the truck began to lose control. For the three drivers, and Vince, this was also the moment they relaxed, knowing the hijack was on track.

Everything always happened so fast. They ended up near a reservoir, changing driver's seats again.

Letty tiredly handed Dom her helmet and harness and slapped him across the shoulder. 'What've I told you about runnin' your mouth when it comes to us?'

He chuckled as he threw the hijacking gear through the open window of his Civic onto the backseat.

'I'll be back on Tuesday,' he said quietly to her, taking her cheek into the palm of his hand. She frowned. 'I thought Leon and I are takin' delivery?'

'You are. Because I'll be in Cuba.'

She sighed. 'You're gonna miss-'

'I know, Mami. I know. Your birthday. But I'll make it up, prometo, mi angel.' The subtlety in his tone reassured her he would not let her down, to which she was instantly persuaded to let upon him, at least by a fraction.

'What's this all about, anyway?' she said, her tone attempting to soften up, but potentially eliciting a slight whinge.

'Don't,' he warned. 'You_ know _what, anyway.'

'Do I?' she questioned, with a hint of doubt in her tone.

'Don't give me that, Letty. We ain't livin' in a six-bedroom with no mortgage because of welfare,' he told her plainly as he faced her straight on. He slid his sturdy hands up along the crook of her neck and rested them just where the hair at the back of her hair wasn't long enough to be plaited in.

'_This _is enough, Papi,' she attempted in a raised whisper, her eyes sorely unable to meet his.

He rumbled his voice low in his throat until it manifested itself as a growl. 'Nuh uh. Not for what I got planned, it ain't.' With that, the conversation was over. He placed a slow and deliberate kiss upon her forehead.

'Leon?' he said next, raising his voice slightly. 'Time to go. You don't let her outta your sight.'

'I think Letty can handle herself, dawg.'

Dom clucked his tongue and pointed with seriousness towards the truck. 'I meant our order.' He took a breath. 'Leon? Don't forget that deadline as well – Sunday.'

Vince and Jess hugged Letty goodbye quickly, and disappeared into Dom's RX7. Letty and Dom shared a look as he clicked his fingers against Leon's, then without admonition, she said, 'You better not be outta town for why I think.'

She hopped into the truck, seeing now that Leon had waited for her to get in first, then she looked at Dom once more, who himself was waiting for her. The truck left first, then the boys in the RX7. And before they knew it, it was 8:47am, Friday morning.

Letty shook a match to kill its flame as she sucked off her fourth cigarette of the day. It was a lot for her to have smoked so far, but she blamed it on having not slept yet. She leant back against the huge steps coming down off the truck, and looked down briefly at her dirty fingernails, wondering momentarily if her suspicions were correct. If Dom was (or had already) gone. Gone off her.

Leon soothingly slipped a hand around her neck and leant his forehead momentarily against hers. 'Ey!' he whispered, and nudged her by the shoulder. 'Fuck him. We're in Mexico.'

'Clearly you never graduated fifth grade. We're too far up on the coast, bendejo. Mexico's there. This is still California. California ain't in Mexico.'

'Fuuck youu; you know what I mean. Once we pick up the Subaru we can go where the fuuuck we like, chica. Who says we gotta get back to the auto shop by Saturday?' he flashed a grin at her and he knew immediately he'd cracked her foul mood.

She started to smile and flicked ash from the end of her cigarette. 'You got cash?'

He nodded. 'I seen that droopy face you've been carryin' around for weeks, Mami. Planned it all out, we're gonna cross the border (don't worry I found your passport) than take it easy on the ride back. Take a detour, maybe smoke a spliff, sit on the coast. Whatever you want.'

He kicked his boot as she looked at him with disbelief.

'Aaah,' he rubbed the back of his head. 'Fuckin' haate this part, Let. Those big dawgs can be such assholes.'

She scoffed. 'They ain't the big dawgs, Leon,' she muttered beneath her breath.

'I ain't _never _seen Dom pass delivery, gurl.'

'Hmm,' she started. 'Cos he thinks he's one a them,' she continued, still muttering, still finishing her cigarette.

'What, a big dawg?'

She stood up and through an exhale sighed a 'Nuh uh. An asshole. And he's correct.' She grabbed his arm and turned him in the direction she was looking. 'Look alive, Leon. Time to work.'

Up ahead were their clients, dressed just like them, only from the other side of the border.

* * *

Letty drove down across the border. She made sure Leon slept. And hours later they were in the heart of the capital. She'd left Leon in their checked in and paid for hotel suite and taken a few hundred to go shopping. _"Make yourself look like a lady," _she told herself as she picked something out, and what she returned with was crazier than she'd expected. And something for Leon, as well.

Room service came, room service left, and what they left behind was $200 worth of twinkling bubbles in a bottle. By this point, Leon had dressed, and was waiting patiently for Letty to decide what she wanted to wear. He filled the two dainty crystal champagne flutes that had been left for them with that fine champagne and brought both glasses to the bathroom door. He tapped against it lightly with the glass in his left hand, then took a step back.

'C'mon gurl, you musta been in there for an hour. I ain't drinkin' until we toast. We gotta celebrate alread-'

His sentence was interrupted by her opening the door abruptly and storming out, seemingly in a huff. Leon had barely caught a glimpse of her as she proceeded to unzip her dress.

Leon turned, saw her, and stopped her. 'Letty…' He was gobsmacked.

There, in front of him stood this indescribable vision. Her dress, oddly enough – was a champagne coloured satin material, floor length, low backed, strapless piece of art. Her hair was out of its previously strict twin cornrow plaits, and swung blissfully at her shoulders, curls of splendour now framing her face with perfect diligence.

She looked at him, her zip half undone. 'I've never seen you in a dress.' She scoffed and continued to unzip herself hastily. 'Yeah, well – you're not gonna be seein' me in a _dress _for much longer. I'm takin' it off.'

He rushed to the bedside table and put down the flutes, then went to her side and held her shoulders. 'Why?'

'Forget it,' she said brazenly, avoiding his gaze altogether.

'Ah, c'mon, we planned this-'

'I forgot to buy shoes, didn't I.'

Leon gazed at her for a prolonged moment, then burst into laughter. 'No shit.'

'_Shit…_' Letty muttered under her breath, then started to giggle. She felt like an idiot.

'Fuck it – here…' Leon grabbed the glasses and raised a glass to her. 'You'll go in your boots. Or bare foot.'

Letty looked at him as if he'd just attempted his own rendition of "Annie, Get Your Gun."

'No way.' She was plain and direct in that statement. There was no way she was going to make a fool of herself after having gone to this much effort.

'Who cares, Let? This night is about you and me. And I gotta say…you're a fuckin' knockout.'

She melted a little at his comment of her and sipped her champagne as her chocolate brown eyes and his emerald green eyes constituted a brief gaze.

'We'll go to the beach,' he suddenly said.

'It's miles away.'

'Then you'll wear your boots,' he concluded with a cheeky smirk.

She couldn't resist, and lifted her left arm. In one swift motion he put down his glass and slunk in beside her, both hands gravitating as if magnets to her painfully feminine waist, then to the bottom of the zip and its clasp. Their eyes met once again as he drug the zip up slowly and daringly against her body.

'Let's just go to the terrace or something,' he suggested, much more serious now.

His hands slid around her waist tentatively. 'You, look…incredible…'

Letty, (blushing) grinned sheepishly as she brought her champagne flute to her lips once more. 'The terrace it is, then.'

* * *

For some reason, they found themselves on the terrace until two a.m., even though they were both exhausted, drinking and drunkenly dancing. The live entertainment was far from their acquired taste.

There were a small handful of middle class _very _rich types left there, seemingly in a similar state to themselves (inebriated). Leon unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and swished the over expensive measure of Cognac in his crystal tumbler around and around. A couple of guests left (the dance floor) and now Letty was the only one still there, in the vast upstairs outdoor wonder, a vast balcony dripping with candlelight and gazebo lights.

The guitarist started to play a song that by some miracle, Letty actually knew, and she gravitated towards the glossy black raked stage and gazed up at him as his fingers effortlessly plucked this delicate riff. She whispered something to him and he nodded. She'd confirmed her suspicions; she did indeed know this song and the lyrics to it also. She perched upon the edge of the stage and before she knew it, had begun to hum the song's tune. A few moments passed, and she allowed herself to break into the lyrics. 'De Alto Cedro voy para Marcan, llego a Cueto, voy para Mayar…'

Leon's face. His eyes gravitated to _that _voice, and his whole face lit up. It wasn't even necessarily that she was singing. It was that in the whole time he'd known her, he'd _never once _known how seamless, how delicate, and how beautiful her voice was. Every word was sung with precision – almost as if it were her favourite song. And the way her body swayed as she enjoyed the rhythms and inflections of the guitar… He caught himself. Before he knew it, he was in front of her, and, though she'd closed her eyes, he let his hands take hers, and he pulled her gently back onto the dance floor.

Her eyes came open to meet his gaze and the lyrics she sung slipped back into a soft and throaty hum. Her lips curled into a slight smile and she stepped in close to Leon as they started to dance, surprisingly rhythmically considering how much they'd had to drink.

Leon's left hand slipped indolently around her waist, and she rested her head against his chest. At that exact moment, with the sound of her humming gorgeously into him, the warmth of her breath and whole self against his chest, her warm left hand in his right hand, her satin dress beneath his left hand, even the feel of her dress as it touched his leg every now and then, he knew it.

Unfortunately for him, also at that precise moment, nerves cruelly struck him in the pit of his stomach, and he anxiously leant his chin against the side of her forehead.

An accidental moan slipped through his lips, and he caught himself again. But for some reason, Letty both acknowledged it, and responded to it, by squeezing his hand a little. Her inebriated eyes came open and found their way up to his, and with an easy recognition, she watched his eyes fixate on all of her, at once.

His lips departed slightly, and she involuntarily moved a little closer into him. So close now, that Leon could rest his forehead against hers if he wanted to.

Enough. He realised what he was doing, through the blinding haze of intoxication, and let go of her, as much as he could. He moved away from her, and headed for the balcony overlooking the still bustling moonlit streets. He reached into the pocket of his pressed trousers for his carton of cigarettes and matches, and deftly struck one to press against the white tip of the super king cigarette. Within seconds of his first toke, she was behind him.

'Leon…' she said, calmly as a hand unwittingly touched upon his back for just a second, then slipped into his pocket for that same carton of cigarettes. She lit one, sucked it briefly, then stood beside him as she exhaled her own cloud of bluish-grey smoke. She fixed her gaze plainly upon him, until he returned the gesture (which wasn't for a good minute or so), then raised her eyebrows inquisitively. No words. He knew that she knew. It was never really a secret, anyway.

After a further minute of studying her look, he shrugged half-heartedly and brought the nearly finished cigarette to his lips. 'Don't sweat it, it's nothin'…'

Her eyes widened slightly. She was a little surprised at his comment. 'Been you, Leon. I know it ain't _nothin'_.'

He shook his head and dragged again. His eyes fell to the floor and he furrowed his eyebrows, then ran a hand slowly back through his semi-golden curly hair. 'If Dom could see you now,' he muttered, his voice sounding a little gravelly from the drink and cigarettes.

'I thought tonight was about you and me?'

Leon looked at her. 'Mami, this is-' He had little time to notice his own embarrassment before she'd firmly pressed her lips to his. When she pulled away she stayed close to him, and observed his eyes.

'Why don't we go upstairs…?'

* * *

Leon lay naked with a simple white cotton sheet draped just over his gorgeously defined hips, a hand tucked behind his head, the other in Letty's hair. Letty lay beside him, also naked, her own form barely concealed by the sheet, on her front, her back completely exposed and her face toward his.

'As…_nice_ as that was…I _swear _I didn't plan that part,' Leon mused, and Letty chuckled, coyly hiding her face in her pillow for a second.

'Nuh uh,' she echoed. She drew in a breath and slipped a hand across Leon's wonderfully chiselled stomach. 'I think we both knew it was comin'.'

There was a long but comfortable silence between them for a long while, then Letty slunk up onto her knees and lifted a knee across his body, gently placed herself a top him, and leant down to kiss him. She lay down again, but this time she was embraced by his lovingly gentle arms. She hummed a little, and traced a finger across his collarbone that she could see caught the blue moonlight perfectly.

'Got any cigarettes left?'

He lazily stretched an arm out towards the nightstand, and enclosed his fingers upon that same evening's carton. With his thumb, he flipped open the lid and raised it into his line of vision.

'One.' He held the packet in front of her and she pulled it out with her fingertips. He lit it for her, then ushered with a little nudge that he wanted to twos it with her. He took it from her and as she passed it to him, and gazed up at the ceiling as he dragged off it.

They were both silent for a short while, just smoking and relaxing into one another's intimate company. 'You're thinkin',' she confirmed as she glanced up towards him.

He nodded. 'I am.'

'What?' she enquired, invasively, but non-intentionally so.

'About Dom.'

'Don't think about Dom,' she told him abruptly, presumably trying to diffuse any initial sensation of guilt he might have. She took back the cigarette and he brought his now free hand down to run his fingers through the relaxed curls of her hair.

'Letty?'

'Mhm?'

He hesitated. 'You're perfect.'

She looked at him, and he to her.

'Really,' he assured her, his voice only just timidly making it past a whisper, his eyebrow raising slightly to further confirm the sincerity behind his statement.

'Nice of you to think that, dawg,' she croaked, half mockingly, half nervous.

'Well, Dom's a fool if he doesn't think it.' He was so serious, despite their fading inebriation, and exhaustion.

'Don't think about Dom,' she repeated. She sat up to extinguish the cigarette butt in the ashtray. She glanced at him over her shoulder, and could see he was drinking in her bare form with her eyes. He slunk a hand up her back slowly, and smiled a fraction.

'What are we gonna do when we get back?' he wondered through a yawn.

She turned back to him and kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth. 'I don't know yet.' She slipped a hand across his chest once again as she repeated slowly, 'I don't know…'

* * *

Morning came all too quickly and they both felt the weight of what they'd been drinking the night before in their heads and stomachs. Making friends with the toilet bowl was something Leon feared he'd be doing at eleven a.m., and as for Letty, well she was already gripping the cool ceramic bowl in her hands, and wishing her stomach would stop retching.

She finally collapsed on the bed face down, after what had felt like at least two hours of throwing up, feeling routinely regretful of her drinking abilities.

'How are _you _feeling?' she muttered to Leon through her pillow.

Leon groaned a little. 'I think you drunk more than me. I just need to stay here for a while.'

He released a yawn and Letty caught it and it soon manifested as her own. 'Can we leave when we're better?' she pleaded.

'Well I ain't drivin' feelin' like this,' Leon concluded, the slur of his words confirmation enough that he was potentially still slightly intoxicated.

Letty didn't know if it was Sod's Law or just her luck. Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller I.D. after it seemed she'd searched for it for a good minute. Dominic.

'I need you to race for me tonight,' he said matter-of-factly. Another one of his money-making endeavours.

Letty groaned. 'Whaaaat?'

'Don't whinge,' he said. His voice sounded distant and she made a sound, clearly pissed. 'It's midnight; this one's just outside town. That place we went when-'

'Yea, yea, yea,' she said quickly, to get to the point as fast as possible. 'Hawthorne,' she confirmed, just to prove to him she _did_ know where he was talking about.

'Where are you, the reception's bad?'

'Aren't you the one in Cuba?' she jabbed, to which he did not respond. 'What's the "in" tonight, anyway?' she asked, this time a little more serious, and hoping that he wouldn't ask his previous question again. She'd have explaining to do if he did.

He was quiet a while. 'Set it at five large.'

'Five large? _Fuck, _Dom- what the _fuck_?' It was bad enough he'd asked her to race in his place.

'Don't.' His voice was firm and sharp.

She waited a second, chewing her lip, her eyes wide, now even more annoyed (if it was possible), then finally hung up and dropped the phone on the floor beside the bed as she turned to Leon. He was just drifting back off to sleep when she glided her fingers back through his hair, and kissed his forehead.

'We gotta _go_, Le,' she told him with a hint of regret wading through her lips.

She watched his eyes fall open to meet hers and in his hung-over state allowed his lips to elicit another groan, that eventually manifested into speech. '_Now_?'

Letty grew a smile that became a soft chuckle. 'Well. Not "yet"…' Her hand slid beneath the sheets, southward of his torso. His body instantly came alive beneath her touch.

'What did he want?' his gravelly voice asked.

She found herself planting soft kisses upon his collarbone, and paused for a moment to say, 'He wants me workin' tonight.'

'A race?'

'Forget about Dom,' she commanded at once, and finger by finger, clasped her hand softly around his steadily hardening-

The phone rang again. 'Fuck's sake!' Letty hissed as she leant off the edge of the bed to get it.

'Fucking h- _WhaT?' _she mumbled as she picked up the phone.

'The Fernandez order is due by five p.m. tonight.'

'But you said…shit, Dom – it's _Saturday_.'

'…And?' he warned.

'I thought you said it was due Sunday?' There was a silence on the other end of the line. Dominic was very good at explaining his wishes through a silence. 'CHRIST, Dom, what the hell! We _need _a DAY OFF,' she told him bluntly.

'Well you'll have a day off tomorrow now.'

'Oh, thanks. What, is that cos it's my birthday? How sweet of you,' she jeered. 'Where are _you?_' Another silence. Oh so good at it.

'You're an asshole, Toretto. I'm in Tijuana, you fuckin' fix it.' And with that, she hung up a second time, and this time, turned her phone off. 'He wants the Fernandez order clear by five p.m. I said to him…'

Leon interrupted. 'I heard.' He got out of bed promptly and slipped on his trousers.

'Leon?' she asked as if to let him know they were _not _finished.

'What're we doin', Let? _Really?_ You're gonna…' he stopped himself, for the sake of his sanity. 'It's not like this is gonna continue when we leave.' Letty sat up.

'We should just go home,' he decided.

She wrapped the sheet around herself and swung her legs off the bed, now facing away from him.

'I don't wanna fight, Letty, but…'

She shrugged, then buried her head in the palm of her right hand.

He instantly took it back, and climbed onto the bed, and within a minute was planting a kiss on her naked shoulder, and clasping them both in his hands. 'You want an easy fuck to forget about him I can give you that, but turn it into something else, and…' his voice softened. 'I _meant _what I said last night, Letty, and that ain't gonna change anytime soon, but…' he paused for a second. 'Please understand why I don't wanna keep doin' this.'

'Dom ain't got nothin' to do with it. This is about you and me-'

'I _know,_ Letty. I _know_. And that's why I am completely and utterly in-'

'You don't have to say it.' She shook her head a little. 'Really, you don't,' she said, still facing away from him, her eyes fixed on her bare legs.

'Really? Cos maybe me tellin' you is the only way to stop it before it turns into somethin'.'

She scoffed. 'So fuckin' loyal,' she muttered beneath her breath. For her, it wasn't about loyalty. It wasn't about love. It wasn't even about pity. 'This is what I _need,' _she told him with that, he found himself giving in to her again, and somehow found himself running a hand along her neck to pull away her hair, and replaced her exposed neck with his lips.

'Please, Leon,' she whispered. 'Just…'

* * *

'Fuuck me!' Letty exclaimed as she sat back in her seat and lifted her face upwards momentarily.

'We spent $1000 last night,' she told Leon as she held the remainder of the cash between her fingers.

Leon shrugged. 'I guess that's how much it costs to blow off steam.' He exhaled a cloud of smoke, keeping his eyes focussed on the road. She rolled up the cash and secured it with an elastic band. 'I'm nervous, Le.'

'Yea? What about?' he asked, his tone giving the impression he had reserved only a limited amount of focus on her, and the rest for the road ahead. And his sanity.

'Tonight. Hawthorne race.'

He grabbed her hand. 'You'll win it, easy, chica. You always do.'

'He's expectin' me to be runnin' those streets when he ain't there, like_ savvy_ about his competition (like I care) keepin' my eyes on the next recruit or somethin' and…' she stopped herself from ranting and held her hands up as if to let it go mentally. 'That ain't even the point, anyway.' She looked out of her window for a while. 'Dom won't forgive me if I lose five large.'

He flicked his cigarette out of the window. 'Don't think about Dom.' He flashed her a grin and suddenly they remembered every detail about their last night.

'I ain't tellin' him, Leon. About…all this,' she uttered beneath her own breath, letting the force of the wind take the most part of the sound of her voice.

Leon nodded his head in appreciation. 'A'ight. I won't either, then.' He glanced at her and she elicited a sheepish grin, to which he mirrored, seeing her above his shades. He outstretched his right hand to give her thigh a reassuring squeeze, and it was then they realised they could depend on one another. Indefinitely.

That drive home was peaceful. Just what they _both _needed. A chance to listen to the purr of the engine's voice beneath them and drive for themselves. Taking it in turns, one slept and the other drove, then vice versa, until they eventually rolled onto the all too familiar territory of their driveway, just after six p.m. 'He's gonna be pissed,' Letty said in a kind of sing song voice, thinking temporarily about the Fernandez order, even though her business head righted things before they got wrong. She had called Mia, who had then called Fernandez, who had happily agreed to pick up the vehicle at midday on Monday (they wouldn't finish it in time for Sunday, now) if they knocked twenty-five per cent off the service charge and threw in one of the parts for free.

* * *

The Team had no clue, luckily, just thought usually of those two: thick as sneaky thieves desperate for a road trip whenever they could sneak one in. Leon boasted a little to the boys as they ate dinner about the two hundred dollar bottle(s) of champagne, but nothing else, and kept his eye on Letty as she mentally prepped herself for the race.

The streets were pumped to the hilt as per, and Leon gave up the responsibility of watching the scanners to Jesse so that he could watch her. The thousands of glistening colours of all the cars, thumping music and talented excitement prepared for the five thousand dollar race.

Letty was surprised. She apparently, wasn't the only chica in the line-up. Eva Juarez. She knew her face. Well, actually, Dom did. She wanted to get her car a "spray tan" and popped by the auto shop. She left behind her underwear.

She unwound the contraptions on her NOS tank and flipped a switch "on" somewhere on her dashboard. She was utterly nervous. More nervous than she had been when she'd been waiting to be claimed by Dom on her sixteenth birthday. Suddenly her car door swung open and shut again, and what appeared was her most recent saviour. 'Come on, baby. Just-' he outstretched his hand in front of them both, yapping excitedly.

'Visualise it, I know.' They shared a look. 'I got this,' she murmured, surprisingly calm, considering.

'You want me to stay with you?' he asked, to which she shook her head instantly. The pressure was already enough.

Leon raised a hand to touch her cheek, then flashed her a quick wink, and got out of the car. She thought for a second about how incredible his scent was.

She had no idea how the others felt, but for her, when she raced (and especially when she raced for Dom) she felt everything but an overwhelming rush of freedom wash over her. For her it was the epitome of restriction, rules, and judgement. And with her entire being, even the way she drove, she never reached the gates of freedom. She was never even close. Always within her passion there were rules.

She won it anyway. Perhaps it was her stifling ability to stay within the realm of reality for those ten seconds.

And as she threw down her keys on the foyer counter, finally in her home, she released an almighty sigh. She peered into the lounge. Empty. _Strange._ 'Mia?' she called? No reply. 'Yo, V? Jess?' she meandered into the lounge. 'Leon…where's-'

'Victor's hostin' the party tonight.'

She raised her eyebrows for a second and headed for the kitchen, only to be stopped by Leon making a sound toward her. '¿Cerveza?' She turned to face him sitting in the armchair, then saw he'd already opened a Corona for her. He raised it, then his, then stood, and brought it to her. 'Ey…' he started. He raised his bottle, and this time he was making a toast. 'To the best race I've ever seen.' He went to drink, then paused. 'AND: the best racer…girl,' he cheekily concluded with a grin.

Letty scoffed, and observed him being a fool. 'Don't fuckin' humour me, Leon.'

He drunk and frowned. 'Aw, c'mon, gurl, you know those bendejos are all fuckin' tragic compared to you – you thrashed them tonight. _You_…can drive. I should know. I been in the car with you for half the day.'

Her eyes fixated upon him as he went to drink some more. She really couldn't tell if he was humouring her, or just being polite. 'Why aren't you at the party?'

Leon headed towards the armchair he'd previously been sat in and shrugged. 'I…wanted to…' he made a gesture towards her and she felt herself tense up a little. She followed him and sat herself down on the arm of Leon's armchair and kicked off her black leather worker boots with the opposite foot.

'Shit…' she muttered under her breath. 'Dom's gonna flip.'

'Huh?'

'The Fernandez order.'

'What'd Mia say to him?'

'Who, Fernandez?' she sipped her drink and rubbed her forehead as she frowned, trying to recall the second hand conversation. 'Er…twenty-five per cent off service charge, exhaust for free,' she said flatly.

Leon raised his eyebrows. 'Not bad.'

'We're losin' three-hundred.'

Leon clucked his tongue and put down his beer on the coffee table in front of him. He grasped her waist in his hands and swivelled her gently to face him. 'Well you just won five large. Happy birthday, chica.'

He then attempted a goofy version of the "Happy Birthday" song to which she began to laugh, and he pulled her boyishly in for an embrace. He squeezed her tight and proceeded to sing the extended version of "How Old Are You, Now?" and brazenly lifted her up and stood with her. She was openly enjoying this (although was slightly embarrassed) and wrapped her slender and exposed legs around his waist. She held on to his shoulder with one hand and placed a hand over his mouth to try to get him to stop singing. He proceeded and she buried her face in the dip of his shoulder and found herself accidentally kissing the slightly scented skin there. It was then that she realised it might be harder to keep her hands off him than she'd originally believed.

She tentatively pressed her forehead to his, and allowed herself to really feel him for a minute. His hands around her, his heart beating against her. It was in those ten seconds, as they _really _looked into each other's eyes that they had _both _had come to the realisation that they were probably (or had already) fallen, HARD.

'You can say it,' she warned him quietly.

He smiled unpretentiously, and kept his wide gleaming eyes on her. Neither of them heard the front door open.

'I…' he chuckled, a little embarrassed. '…am, completely, utterly – unbelievably…' he lowered his voice and kissed her nose, and let her down. '…starving.' He lightly ruffled her hair and headed towards the kitchen, and she turned, utterly gobsmacked, utterly taken off-guard.

She watched him approach the fridge, and collected her beer then followed him.

Leon didn't expect it. Letty threw with complete force her beer at the wall, causing Leon to jump and turn to see her completely changed. She gave him a look of "What the Fuck?" and he cocked his head to the side. 'Just say it, Leon.'

The two were jolted out of their tiff by a familiar feminine voice. 'What's goin' on?' the slender woman asked. And just like that, the brick wall/steel fence Letty had been behind during the heist, during the race, during the changeover, came straight back up.

'…Bendejo,' she muttered, and in two seconds disappeared into the lounge, then out of the front door.

There was an almighty slam as she shut the door behind her. Then Leon came crashing back down to Earth.

* * *

**TBC**


	9. Part 9

**Title: **In Mexico  
**Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.**  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon, Mia/Brian

* * *

Part 9

He saw her smile. _Really _smile. Then all of a sudden there it was again. That kick. Of reality, a life about to be born into this mess that had become their lives. The kick of the baby echoed through Leon's gut, and he began to ache. For her sanity AND his. For Dom's absence, for Mia's desperation, for Brian's inner revolution and for more cigarettes.

A breeze slipped into the room, easeful and at last. It was as if the weather had sensed their discomfort.

'Leon?' He felt as if they'd been silent forever, until she called his name. In a way, they had been. 'I am completely, utterly…unbelievably…'

Leon interrupted. 'Starving?' he smiled sheepishly and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

'_Noo_…' She paced herself. '…In love with you.' And suddenly it wasn't so funny anymore.

'What are we gonna do?' he asked, his vulnerability more transparent than ever.

She moved in a little closer, to kiss him on his glistening chest. 'I ain't ever been to Rio before…?'

* * *

It was a fair way from the border, a town along the coast called Ensenada that they decided to go next. Since Brian joined them and things had settled a little, the general agreement was that one month was the maximum they would ever stay in one place. So they were already thinking about the months to follow after. Letty expressed her feelings about Rio, or even the Dominican Republic, and the others listened. The only problem was they had no idea how they'd be able to facilitate that with every system in place waiting on guard to see their faces flash up on a security camera or passport control booth.

The tiny little house was one of around four on that street. There seemed to be a general void of awareness in this town. The house was painted light blue on the outside with many crevices where the paint had chipped away, with brown shutters that were very dilapidated. This one, Mia liked. There were four steps leading up from the street to the house itself, into another open-plan lounge/kitchen/diner type. This one had stairs leading up to another floor, with two bedrooms and a terrace coming off of the first bedroom. There was no garden as such, but instead marshland and dirt tracks, which wasn't so bad, as they didn't really intend to go many places.

This one was the least easy to settle into, but that was only because they could see themselves becoming more and more attached to it as time went on.

Mia and Brian seemed to be well on their way towards reaching a certifiable state with one another. Mia had forgiven him, and Brian had made it very clear that he was interested wholeheartedly in her and Team, only.

They disappeared quickly into their new bedroom, and Letty and Leon didn't see them (or surprisingly, hear them) for many hours. They withdrew to their own bedroom, and Letty knelt upon the soft bed, stretching her arms above her head as she did, her baggy but feminine tee shirt exposing her stomach ever so slightly.

That was the first time Leon saw. Properly. Her stomach. She was starting to show in an obvious way, but the fact that she kept it hidden beneath her feminine but loose shirt meant that in her own way she could maintain a certain subtlety about her pregnancy.

Letty clocked Leon's doe eyes as he examined her stomach from his fixed spot in the middle of the room and lowered her hands towards the hem of that pale white shirt. 'Hey…' she started, coaxing him out of his mesmerisation and tilted her head a moment, ushering him over to the bed. He wandered over sheepishly, the palms of his hands beginning to sweat a little in a sort of coy embarrassment of this entire situation. 'Come,' she said lightly, and he raised a knee up to join her on the comforter. She sat back on her heels, a comforted smile beginning to manifest itself on her lips and released her shirt to take Leon's hands and tentatively place them on her bump. He had never _properly _felt it before, only the baby itself kicking. He exhaled a breath he didn't know he had been holding, totally overwhelmed by the entire concept of her growing a child inside of her. As he ran his hands over and around her stomach, he felt his heart warming fast, felt that feeling of safety and intimacy begin to strengthen between them both. He couldn't help but utter a sound of delight as he sat back on the bed.

Letty had been observing him with a curious eye, her head tilted to one side and that smile still on her lips. She caught herself simultaneously wondering how this might've been different if he had given her this child, and not Dominic. She wondered if he wanted the baby to be his, now that they had established their own version of a relationship.

'God,' Leon started, under his breath. 'Unbelievable.' Letty furrowed an eyebrow questioningly to which Leon sensed, his eyes still at her stomach. 'I mean…there's a tiny human being in there!'

Letty rolled her eyes jokingly, and leant forward to touch her lips to his. She waited there, so close to him, and smiled, her lips still against his. '_This _is unbelievable,' she confirmed. And by "this" she meant _them_.

Leon hummed in agreement. He slid his hands around her waist and lifted her so that she came to straddle him with her legs. 'Five months?' he asked, to which she responded with a quick nod.

'Ish. I think. She could be a January baby.'

'How do you…?'

'Aah, I just…I dunno, I-'

'_Tell me_…' he said gently as he stroked her back beneath her shirt.

'…I always…it's _embarrassing_.'

Leon gave her a look, and she held her breath, visibly embarrassed, as she'd said.

'…I just think it'd be nice, to, you know, to…to have a girl.' Leon's heart melted. 'Plus then it means I don't gotta call her Dominic.' She realised as the words came out of her mouth and sighed apologetically.

'It's okay,' Leon said calmly. 'It's true,' he chuckled, and kissed her. 'You got any ideas? For…names?'

She honestly felt as though she'd embarrassed herself enough for one day and shied away from him.

'C'mon… I'm not gonna judge you, Mami.'

She hesitated. 'Maybe I'll tell you another time,' she decided and stood up off him and off the bed.

'So, I have a cousin Santos who lives in the Dominican Republic. I was thinkin' we could try there, next?'

Leon lay back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. 'Hmm. How are we gonna do it with no passports?'

* * *

'Whaddyu mean you don't know where they are?'

José ushered Dominic out to the back of the café, and gave a motion with his hand as if to let him know he might coax his customers if he behaved with continued hostility.

'I asked you a favour, José,' he said worryingly calmly now, and leaning craned his neck as if to come down to José's much more modest height.

'Ai, ai, sí hombre, but… they didn't stay long. A few weeks, maybe then moved on,' he explained clearly. He lowered his voice. 'I get the impression they needed their space, and Letty was…'

'What? What about her?' he interrupted hastily, considering how composed he usually was.

'She wasn't doing too well, man,' he replied in a near whisper.

Dominic drew in a breath, José's words inwardly panicking him somewhat. 'They leave you an address?'

José shook his head. 'But, Leon, he left me this…' He quickly reached toward his notice board and pinched a pin between his fingers and pulled it out slowly. He swept out from underneath the pin's grasp that napkin Leon had written his cell phone number on that night he rushed off without Letty, and handed it Dominic. 'It's Leon's number, hombre. You want any more info… _shit_, I ain't got it, man.' He patted him twice on the shoulder. 'Best of luck, Dom.' He proceeded towards the café, then stopped, and turned back to him, reaching at the same time for the dishcloth in the back pocket of his jeans. 'If you ask me, the way Letty was…it might be time to quit it, man. And _she loves _you.' He offered a gentle smile and his gaze fell to the floor slowly as he turned and headed back to his café.

* * *

This house had a working radio, and a makeshift BBQ/grill, and those gorgeous front door steps.

'Nah, nah, nah, nah… I'm tellin' you man, it's completely indescribable when you have that much control of something that's so powerful by itself, to know you can really force it to reach heights you never dreamed, man…' Brian rambled.

Leon, from underneath the car, shouted, 'Such a novice, bruh. Ain't nothin' to do with that. It's all about the calm before the storm. Speed is after story. NOS…forget about it. Now…the _engine_…its configuration…its calibre…'

Mia ducked her head as she stretched Brian's hair taut above his head, her eyes and the index and middle of her fingers clasping his golden locks tight. She straddled him from behind, as he sat calmly back on the step in front of her.

'Christ,' she muttered beneath her breath, and brought a pair of scissors with precision to the tips of his hair. She snipped lightly, and put them aside once more. 'Can we talk about something else besides cars, for once? _Please_…' she said, almost monotonously. Understandable. 'I'm sick of them,' she added as she concentrated, clasping a new, uncut collection of hair from Brian's head.

Brian brought his elbows up to rest on Mia's knees, and placed a finger meekly upon her bare skin. 'Sure, beautiful.' He stroked her leg a little and they sat in silence for a bit, aside from the sound of the radio's music. 'Where's Letty?' he said, soon after.

Mia shrugged. 'Asleep, maybe?' she said as she repositioned herself in front of him, to check the length of his hair (which, with a combination of being wet and freshly cut, was sticking up and in all directions).

She chuckled to herself and ran a finger lightly across his cheek. 'You look ridiculous, baby.' They both smiled, and Leon's phone started to ring. He slid out from underneath the car on a plank of wood with mini wheels and reached for it in his jeans pocket. When he saw the number came from this country, he panicked. It could only, _really_, be one person. He sat up FAST and answered it. He didn't say "hello."

'Address: NOW,' came an almost menacing tone from the cell phone.

'I thought you were dead or somethin',' he muttered flatly as he turned away from Brian and Mia, both of them sensing his tension.

'I don't have time, Leon – where the hell are you?' Leon could hear he was in a moving car.

Leon, after some hesitation, mumbled the address to him as he used the back of his free hand to wipe his sweating forehead.

'What are you doing all the way out there for; I thought I told you to stay in San Antonio del Mar?'

'Thought you didn't have time, dawg.'

'Good thing I'm just comin' from El Sauzal…,' Dominic muttered beneath his breath. 'Stay put,' he concluded. He hung up instantly, and with an almighty sigh, Leon turned back to Brian and Mia, and upon seeing their anxious expressions, knew their pseudo-peaceful living arrangements were on the verge of coming to an end.

'I'll get Letty. Bri, get a couple of beers outta the fridge.' He cocked his head to one side, motioning to the front door. 'We better talk: _fast_.'

* * *

'Goddamit,' Letty mumbled under her breath as she leant her forearms upon the dining room table. 'How did he-?'

'José, I think,' Leon responded, the context of it all not requiring an explanation. Mia leant her head in her arms, then sat back and ran a hand through her hair.

The silence and tension between them was palpable. They were all undeniably thinking about the same thing.

'I can have the car ready in an hour if you can give me a hand,' Leon said to Brian bluntly, then reached for his half drunken beer.

Mia shook her head at Leon. 'We can't.' Leon shrugged as if to say "What, then?" 'He's my brother, I have to…'

'Do you really believe he was thinkin' of you when he was jackin' those trucks, Mi?' Letty asked plainly. 'Didn't he leave you behind… without a word?'

Mia looked into her upturned palms. 'I don't _care_. I thought we were running from the cops, not our own family.'

Brian sat forward and gently clunked his beer on the table. 'I think Mia's right, you two. Runnin' from Dom doesn't solve the problem, it exaggerates it. We need to focus on the real problem, and that ain't Dom.'

Letty scoffed and started to get up, slowly. 'Easy for you to say, bruh.' She tucked her chair in. 'Do what you like,' she started as she reached for Leon's hand and held if briefly. 'It ain't my priority no more.' She left the room and Mia got up also.

'Leave, if you want. But I gotta stick with him, regardless. He's my family – well, damn – yours, too. But family don't run out on one another, Letty.'

'Good point,' Letty said, as if to alert her "sister" to her contradiction.

Mia held her breath for a second. 'Dom did what he did because he…he had to, you know that.'

As it happened, there wouldn't have been time to finish the car, as there came a loud tap at the front door. It was open. And within seconds the most crucial member of their "Team," their leader, was back with them.

Leon and Brian stood in unison, the sound of the dining chairs scraping along the hard floor echoing through the room. Mia breathed a subconscious sigh of relief with her entire body for finally seeing her older brother in the living, breathing flesh once more.

Letty emerged from the kitchen, and upon seeing Dominic, did the exact opposite. She held her breath, and wandered towards him, calmly. She looked up, way up into his huge brown eyes. Then, in a prolonged second, he went to kiss her, and she cracked a hand across his cheek. He swiftly attempted to hold her hand, and she ripped it away from him.

'I think you _know _what that's for, Dominic,' Leon mumbled monotonously, his voice a gravelly, intensively serious tone.

Dominic looked at him. 'You've some explaining to do…' he said, his voice equally gravelly, and serious.

Leon's eyes widened. 'I'VE got some expl – Jesus!' he shouted as he threw his arms up.

Mia shook her head as it hung low, having observed everything.

Dominic, now even more serious than he had been previously (if it was possible) looked intently at his sister. Letty saw him do this, and scoffed, then started to walk back to the kitchen.

'Where've you been, Dom?' Leon asked quietly.

Dominic watched Letty, then after a few seconds finally said, 'I've secured a deal with a bendejo (their word for Boss) in Sinaloa.'

Letty stopped in her tracks, now halfway to the archway that separated the lounge from the kitchen.

It was finally Brian's turn to talk. 'Dom…they're still onto you, man. Couple a months layin' low, it don't make any difference. They "sent" me…to bring you in.' He paused, in order to change his tone a little bit. 'So I ditched my car. I ditched my badge. It's all gone. All pointless. Cos…well…I guess you _know_, huh.'

Dominic nodded slowly, then glanced at the reason. His sister. 'Yea. Thanks, Brian.'

'That ain't the point. Yeah, I'm here to stick by you all. I'm here to warn you. But I'm _not _here to steal with you. Shit, man; LEARN from it, already. One truck scores you what, between ten and fifty? And you've done how many? I _know _you don't need to do this for the cash…_ or _your… _family_. _Shit_, look, Dom. Look at them. Admit you don't need it and we'll be free. ALL of us.' He took a breath. 'I mean…what the fuck are you _doin'_… Letty's-'

'Letty's nothin', a'ight Brian,' Letty piped up, almost in her defence, but then she realised fast it was more like in her baby's. And Leon's.

'What's goin' on?' Dominic asked coolly.

Leon shook his head. 'You've lost your fuckin' mind, dawg, that's what.'

Letty took a few steps towards him again. 'Dom. All this… this house… the fact that we're still _alive_… it didn't happen because of you. And look at us. Clothes on our back. A roof over our heads. All of that? _Not_ you. Where _were _you? Huh…? Three… months, Dom.'

Dominic. Classic Dominic. He didn't say a word.

'Mhm…FUCK…YOU,' she started, slowly, and Leon knew instantly that this could escalate at any moment, so moved quickly in her direction. But he also knew how fast and fearless she had always been; always ready to take a shot, and that's exactly what she did. She was fast enough for Leon to miss her picking up his Corona and throwing it point blank at Dom's face, and fast enough to backhand him after that. Leon was a step behind her though, and in a flash was pulling her away from Dominic.

Luckily, he had managed to dodge the bottle narrowly, but still managed to get covered in beer. Brian ran his hand over the back of his freshly cut hair as Leon literally took Letty into the kitchen.

'See?' Brian said quietly, as he raised his gaze to meet Dom's. 'What for, anyway?'

Mia shook her head, turned and followed Leon and Letty into the kitchen, still not saying a word to her brother. She saw Leon holding Letty's cheeks in his hands delicately, and making a comforting "shh" sound with his lips.

'Get him-the… fuck-out-of… my house,' she struggled to say through a number of sobs. 'He has-_no idea_-no FUCKIN' idea _, _Leon.' She sobbed so hard that she sounded like a child for a moment, and Mia watched. 'Jesse is DEAD, Leon – _we are FUCKED!_' She made a frustrated half grunt, half sigh and Leon pulled her in towards his chest to embrace her. She sobbed a little more and Leon finally noticed Mia standing behind them, and ushered her over with a tilt of his head.

'I think I'm gonna take him for a drive, talk to him,' he suggested, to which Mia furrowed her eyebrows a little.

'No – I'll go. We'll all talk properly later.' She left the kitchen, checking over her shoulder once, and Leon pressed his lips together. "_Shit_," he thought.

All too quickly, Mia did as she said, and within minutes the house was empty: just Leon and Letty.

Letty pulled slowly, somewhat embarrassed away from Leon and wandered into the bedroom. He silently followed her after a couple of minutes, to find her pulling the few clothes she had out of the brown dresser.

'Is this really what's gonna happen next, Letty? We've just spent the last coupla months getting to this point-'

'HE left _us_, Leon,' she said threateningly, as though she wanted to remind him of their own unbelievable strife over the last three months.

'Shit you don't have to _tell me_, Mami; I was there. But, like Bri said, this…Dom, he ain't the problem anymore.'

Letty threw down her clothes onto the bed, and turned from him, visibly vexed.

'That's the whole point! He's not! But we are IN this situation because of _his _idea. His big fuckin' master plan! I'm pissed, Leon, because _nothing _that's happened has freakin' _touched_ him! I am done, Leon.'

She slumped onto the bed, defeated. Leon was in front of her within seconds, and bent at the knees to see her face to face. 'Is it about the baby?' he paused to give her ample opportunity to respond if she wanted. When he saw in her face that she'd less than any intention to respond, he placed his hands on her knees and clasped them gently. 'We agreed to the heists before, Letty. We can't blame him for that,' he told her, feeling as though he'd edged on patronising her.

He didn't want that. He just wanted them to always be on the same page, and for goodness sake, to be totally honest with each other – at long last. 'Is it…' he held his breath a moment and inquisitively squinted his eyes. 'Bunch of things come back to you all at once? Before the heist?' There was a short silence. 'You still love him?' he asked, non-invasively, and she immediately shot a look at him, almost aggressively, but mostly as if to tell him "you can't be serious." She frowned deeply.

'Letty, he ain't here right now. Ey.' Even though they were looking at one another he sought a further gaze between them, widening his eyes to alert her. 'I ain't gon say shit. It's you an' me, mija.'

It must've been three long minutes she was just looking. Just…looking at him. Everything he'd just said made perfect sense, in a cruel world that rarely ever had for them.

'I just…' she held her gaze with him, barefaced and vulnerable and still pregnant. She shrugged her shoulders and Leon slid his hands up to her thighs and rested his entire forearms on her arms, so effortlessly comfortable in this horribly uncomfortable situation. 'I never _expected _him to come back. Much less _find_ us.'

'Well, I kind of-' He cocked his head to the side.

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'The _first _time, Leon. The first time I find an ounce of God Almighty peace. I just want peace. Doesn't anyone fuckin' know I'm pregnant? Doesn't anyone _care _that Vince could be _dead?_ That Jesse IS? We fucked ourselves, Leon. And now it's time to STOP.'

Leon drew in a deep breath. 'Ain't nothin' else to be said?' he asked, almost ashamedly, although he didn't really know what about. Maybe it was on behalf of Dominic.

Letty nodded, and brought an exhausted hand to her face. 'Can we just…?' she said through a groan as she shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

Leon nodded slowly. 'Of course.'

* * *

**TBC**


	10. Part 10

******Title: **In Mexico**  
****Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.******  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon, Mia/Brian

**A/N: **Thanks for continued patience. Another part coming soon as this is a really short one.

* * *

**Part 10**

May 31st, five seventeen am, near Coachella. 2001.

Leon, Letty, Mia and Dominic watched, seething with guilt, anxiety, disappointment and anger as Brian piled Vince's half destroyed body into the airlift. Leon glanced back at Letty, laying in the backseat, clutching her side, and sucking in the blood that trickled down from her teeth and busted bottom lip. He furrowed his eyes and eyebrows at her, to which she shook her head slightly. No…she was _not _okay.

Dom shouted something inaudible for Leon and Letty towards Mia outside of the car, in an almost panicked tone, who was standing, helplessly in between her two loves. She made an obvious choice and hurried at once towards the only remaining black Honda Civic. She climbed nervously but quickly into the back seat, and at once clasped Letty's hand with both of hers. From that point onwards she fought back tears as she watched Brian watch them drive away.

Leon sped. He sped for all of them, all of their lives (now fucked). Without Dominic having to coax him at all.

They experienced for the next five minutes the most uncomfortable silence that any of them had shared together, until Dominic shifted round in his seat to look at Leon, Letty and his now heartbroken sister, Mia.

'Mia; go to the shop and pick up the books, and the computer. Go back to the house. Letty; you a'ight?'

She did not respond.

'Pack some clothes. Leon…do the same. Get hold of or rid of anything that's got your name on it.' He drew in a deep breath and his gaze fell: he was thinking.

'Leon, Letty; you're gonna get outta here as fast as you can.'

'Nuh uh, no way Papi – I ain't leavin' if you ain't,' Letty mumbled, her words laboured as she clasped her side in apparent pain.

Dominic rubbed his forehead. 'I ain't runnin' Letty. Not yet. I gotta find Jess. You go on ahead and I'm right behind you.' He took a deep breath. 'Don't take the Civic.'

'What else we got, Dom? The other cars are still in Thermal, we don't got time to-'

'A'ight, alright. Just don't drive fast.'

A feeble but intense cough elicited from Letty's lips. 'We ain't goin' anywhere unless we _all go _together.'

'Letty, I can't risk that-' Dominic started, only to be interrupted by her.

'Oh, REALLY?' she winced. A raw and unrelenting sharp pain cut into her side, and she whimpered a little as she tried to move in her seat to ease the pain. Dominic saw this, and so did Mia and Leon.

'Shit,' Leon mumbled under his breath, and then pressed his lips together.

'I think we need to get Letty to a-'

'No, we DON'T,' she warned Dominic as she listened to him talking to Leon.

'This is a mess,' Leon muttered, his voice low, gravelly, embarrassed in his throat.

Mia wiped a threatening tear from her eye as she stared out of the window, then decided quickly that she could help Letty, somewhat anyway.

'Let me see it,' she said unusually calmly as she shuffled round to face her best friend. Letty shook her head, but Mia squeezed her hand. 'C'mon, gurl.'

She leant forward a little and went to pull Letty's top up.

Glass.

Letty saw it herself and through a spluttering cough, produced an unsettling, 'God.'

Mia moved her hand up to Letty's hair and looked into her eyes. 'Hey, hey hey.' She smiled at her reassuringly. 'How you livin', gurl?' She thought it might calm her down a bit.

Leon glanced back to see her wound and reached a hand into his pocket, to pull out his chequered shirt that was from it, and handed it to Mia.

'I'm gonna have to leave it in until we get home or it'll bleed more,' she explained to Letty, who, after seeing the extent of her injury, was becoming paler by the second. Mia worried she could fall into shock at any moment. Wondered how she hadn't already.

'Leon, can you go a bit faster?' Mia asked, a hint of fear now apparent in her voice.

'We can't, Mia,' Dominic warned, even though he knew and could clearly see the urgency behind it. 'We can't risk the Feds' eyes on us – especially right now, in this car.' He wiped a hand slowly over his mouth as the other hand gripped Leon's head rest so tight. 'We gotta find Jess,' he continued, almost in a whisper.

* * *

**TBC**


	11. Part 11

**Title: **In Mexico**  
****Disclaimer: **No infringement intended.**  
Pairing: **Letty/Leon, Mia/Brian

**A/N: **Thanks for continued patience. And once again thanks to anyone still reading - although I'm still writing this from time to time, I drifted away from here so I'm really sorry for anyone who was really up for following this through!

* * *

**Part 11**

Her feet padded gently against the harsh concrete floor, making barely a sound. Her movement was fluid, but she was nervous, and inwardly so. Her long and unshakable habit of closing up when she'd been hurt or offended wasn't about to change. She manoeuvred her way towards the bathroom, slinking around the furniture and doorframe like a cat.

Leon had reluctantly been shoving their modest draw full of clothes into that all too familiar duffel bag. Again. He momentarily paused to think about a life on the run. Funnily enough, it didn't really feel as if they were fugitives of the law. No. They had become fugitives of Dominic. And that was the very moment that he realised they were no longer the Team that they used to be.

Letty's hand slipped effortlessly around the faucet, and drug it smoothly towards her, forcing hot water to explode from the pipe above her head. Leon had suggested to her to take a shower - to think, to calm down...and to cool down. Then they would think about the next  
step.

He pulled on the tiny zip at the end of the duffel bag, and in two seconds, their remaining life possessions were concealed...ready to go on another trip. He decided he might join her in the shower, another one of their routines that chastely and silently came to be. He tugged on his basketball shirt from the back, and pulled it off above his head. As he clicked the bathroom door shut behind him he thought of what Mia might be talking to Dominic about. If she was as fuming as Letty. If she'd hit him, too.

Letty was already under the tap, standing so unbelievably still. Leon unbuttoned his jeans that were already hanging teasingly off his hips, hooking his thumb under his boxers simultaneously and in one downward motion, dropped them to the floor. He knew she knew he was there, and started his mental routine: pondering if this was ever something Dominic and Letty did. She slid a hand around the closed shower curtain and drew it back, confirming for him that she had been expecting him.

'Room for another?' He mumbled sheepishly, almost jokingly. Her hand gravitated towards his and he took it, and stepped into the shower. The next part of their routine: he stood before her as she stepped in towards him and pressed her whole body at once into his. Then, as if automatic, he rested his cheek on her forehead. Then they both stood for a minute, their hands clasped tightly together.

Then he thought about the events that brought them to this moment. Race Wars. Their last heist. Jesse. Vince. One dead, one gone. José's. The hospital. The baby. Mia. Brian. Dominic.

Letty. His mind always lingered there. Leticia. His Angel. Dominic's Angel. Their saviour. If it weren't for her, he thought, he probably wouldn't have found the will to continue.

He squeezed her hand to bring her back to the present: he knew her mind was far away. 'You got me, mi angel,' he said, his voice only a fraction above a whisper.

And at that exact moment, the result was always the same. He felt her chest begin to pulsate, and then the rest of her body shook. She inhaled quickly, sharply. She was crying. He slipped both of his hands up into her hair and she raised her gaze to meet his sullen eyes. 'If I don't, I don't got no one else,' she warned. Her face gravitated towards his, and gently, first, she rested her forehead against his. Then tentatively, their lips met.

It couldn't have been twenty minutes when Leon heard the front door open. He and Letty had wrapped themselves into their largest towel and laid down on their bed, just to think...to let the day wash over them. They'd ended up drifting into a light sleep, and when Leon heard the door go, his eyes popped open with a shot.

He rose quickly from the bed and fetched the duffel bag, where he'd previously packed all of their clothes. He pulled out a pair of boxers and ran his fingers back through his hair.

Letty was slowly waking up, seeming not to have heard the door as Leon had. 'I think he's back, mija,' Leon mused as he searched the bag for his wife beater.

She grunted and reached for Leon's cigarettes on the night stand. Luckily, he noticed and in a second was taking them from her. 'Not worth it,' he reminded her, shaking the packet at her a little. He knelt upon the bed and pressed his lips to hers immediately. 'You've done amazingly so far. Don't let it all be ruined because he's here.'

Letty gazed up into his wonderfully modest green eyes. 'I can't face him again.'

'You don't have to. Stay in here. "You're sleeping" or whatever, I'll tell him.'

He kissed her forehead so gently, then rose from the bed and approached the bedroom door. Letty made a sound just before he reached for the door handle and he looked over his shoulder back at her. 'Leon...?' She sounded frightened.

He nodded, coaxing her to continue. She didn't. 'I got you, Letty. Trust me, that ain't gonna change.'

'It ain't that...'

Leon squinted a fraction, again, prompting her to continue.

'You know he's gonna go ape when he finds out...'

'About us?'

She sighed. 'Yeah...' She said through a breath. 'And that.'

Leon returned to the bed and peered into her eyes. 'Ey...' He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. 'Ain't about Dom anymore.' He paused. 'Is it...' He urged a confirmation.

'You and I both know Dom. And even if it's his, this ain't-'

'Letty... Whaddyu mean IF...?' Letty hesitated. She inwardly cursed. She'd said too much. Leon rose from the bed slowly. '...It could be...?' He pointed towards his own chest, to which she refused to respond. 'Letty...?'

'Go. Talk to him-' she concluded immediately, blowing him off to postpone the subject.

He lowered his voice. 'Could it...?'

'I shouldn't have...said anything...' she mumbled, still looking towards him.

'Letty… are you trying to tell me that this child could be mine?' He paused, hoping she'd respond. Again, she refused.

Leon left the room immediately, and Letty exhaled long and anxiously.

The moment Leon stepped into the lounge, Dom noticed instantly the distress he was suffering. He himself had come to rest in the corner of the room, leaning hesitantly against the partition between the lounge and the kitchen. Mia and Brian could be heard, but not seen. In fact, it sounded as if they were quarrelling (presumably about the conversation they'd had with Dom prior to returning to the house).

Leon clocked him across the room, looking unsure of himself. 'How you livin'?' He mumbled quickly.

Dom shifted from one foot to the other. 'We gotta talk, man,' he said, also quite flatly.

Leon stood across the room from him, firm in his posture and stern in his fixed gaze upon him. 'There's plenty we gotta do. I think the first thing you need to do is...' He drew in a breath and instantly a flash of rage consumed him and he raised his voice. '... Try explaining to Let what the hell happened to you, why it's been months since we heard a peep outta you.'

Dom passed a hand over his shaven head, visibly knackered. 'Later. We gotta move, dawg-'

'You try tellin' that to Let,' he said plainly, a hint of disappointment present in his tone.

In that moment, it was confirmed to Leon that Mia and Brian were indeed arguing. He heard her raise her voice, and it sounded as if he was trying to explain yet another complexity to her.

'We'll make this the last one. Then the "long vacation" starts,' Dominic concluded, almost trying simultaneously to confirm the truth of the statement to himself.

'Funny, I remember you sayin' somethin' very similar before you vanished.'

Letty appeared in the lounge. 'What's goin' on?' She asked gently. Her face hardened when she saw him across the room. 'You still here?' She jabbed.

Dominic instantly took a few steps towards her and went to bring a hand up to her cheek. She quickly flinched away from him, and turned to Leon, changing her tone. 'Why are they fighting?' She asked as she cocked her head towards where she presumed they were.

Leon glared at Dominic. 'Ask your boyfriend.'

Knife. Letty's chest tightened a little as she listened to him say those cruel words to her. She glanced at Dom then quickly moved towards the front door and yanked it open, then held it in its open state and looked to Dom.

'Go,' she said to him calmly, cocking her head towards the road outside.

Dom stepped towards her and drew in a breath. 'Letty I know you're pissed but all this, where I went, it's all for our benefit-'

She scoffed. 'Bullshit.' She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. 'Go.'

'You don't mean that-'

'Like hell I don't. Go on…' She continued to hold the door open. 'Fuck off.'

Leon totally supported Letty in what she was doing, and merely lingered on the other side of the room, now coming to sit down in a dining chair.

Dom approached her and took hold of the door, aiming to close it. Six years plus with Letty and he still couldn't predict the rage that had inevitably built inside her. Leon saw it instantly as he took the front door from her, trying still to control her wishes. In a fit of rage, she smacked him around the head with a closed fist, and in an instant his face was cut. She was not a weak woman.

Leon stayed in his chair, and folded his arms, almost inwardly saying he "told him so" about the woman he was supposed to know the best.

'Letty... I-'

'No, Dom. You don't get to have your way any more. You made a choice to leave and so did we. To get away from YOU. So that YOU wouldn't find us.' Dom again raised a hand to try to bring Letty around to him, and this time, she slammed the front door shut. So hard that it shook the whole house. 'NO, Dom! Where's Vince? Where's Jesse, huh?' She took a  
few breaths. 'It ain't about you anymore. That's _it_, _it's_ over. Fuck off.' She walked away from him, strangely calm again, though briefly glanced over her should to reiterate her statement. 'Go.'

He finally came around, and slowly exited the house, defeated. Leon at once followed Letty into the kitchen. He saw her leaning with her hands outstretched against the counter, hanging her head and standing unusually still.

'You know he's gonna try to come back...' Leon told her.

'Why did you say that?' She asked at once, her voice very quiet.

Leon was silent.

She turned around slowly to face him. 'Why did you call him that?' She looked directly at him and squinted her eyes a little. She was not trying to interrogate him one bit. In fact, it seemed that she was far too offended and eager to find the harmony between them again.

He drew in a breath slowly, and let his gaze fall. He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. He knew it was a stupid thing to say.

'Thought you said you got me?' She paused. 'What are you doin'?'

After a prolonged silence he raised his head and meandered towards her. 'Why would you make me think the baby's his when you're not sure?'

She held her tongue. But only for a couple of seconds. 'We... I mean...you and I... When we were...it was...' She sighed and mumbled under her breath a _"shit"_ as she realised she wasn't very good at this at all. 'Dom and I weren't, _you know_, for a while. It was only when Brian came about that we started to, try harder. Of course, that was around the time we...I mean you and...' Her voice trailed off.

'I get it. We overlapped.' He sighed and rubbed his eyebrow, then slipped his hands around her shoulders and squeezed them a little, and almost at once, Letty's distress melted away.

'So there's a chance...?' He continued.

She peered tenderly into his eyes. 'Kinda wish things with Dom and I had never picked up again,' she mumbled.

Leon chuckled a little and a smile emerged upon his lips. 'You mean that, mija?'

She nodded and they were silent for a minute or two, just looking into one another's eyes, realising for the first time, ever, there was not one remaining secret, and not one ounce of conflict between them.

'I hope he has your eyes,' she said timidly.

Leon's smile widened. 'Don't you mean she?' He moved in for a chaste kiss and Letty smiled into it. When Leon pulled away he ran a hand back through her wet and wavy hair. 'So it's you and me now. For real?'

Letty waited a moment before responding to him. 'Absolutely.' She embraced him, then spoke into his chest. 'So don't be callin' him my man no more, huh. Papi.'

Huh. Papi. Leon heard the word and it warmed him so much more. He realised then and there that she had truly meant it and everything at last made sense. He was her "Papi." For real. No conflict.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
